–Dust and Ash–
V.I.
Dust to Dust, and Ash to Ash
C.I.
Neighborhood Drama
–[xXx]–
–No POV–
1990, January 31st
January thirty-first. It was his birth and her death. The man gazed on, tears shimmering in his eyes. To him, who was a powerful [xxxxx], crying was a sign of weakness. The only one within the room, besides him, his newly born son, and the deceased mother, was a singular servant who served the [xxxxx xx xxxxx] with zeal. She wouldn't speak of it – if any were to ask, the perfect response was that it had been raining, and none would question him further.
The servant moved forward, as if to comfort the man, but paused in her step forward, and bit her lower lip. A second ticked, and she turned to the deceased woman. There were only a few people who knew of her existence, and the man's relationship with her. Two of them, including the man, were in this room.
"What are we going to do?" The woman asked the man, who turned to look over at her over his shoulder, a blank look in his eyes. The woman glanced away, a nervous expression on her face. "If he were to be discovered at this juncture… he'd be hunted. Killed. We can't safeguard him without danger."
The man breathed a pained breath, casting his eyes back to the woman lying before his eyes. A serene smile rested upon her face, almost oblivious to her own peaceful slumber. She had lived her life and she had died in the end through childbirth.
The woman had been a [xxxxxxxx], their child a [xxxxxx]. He was going to be strong, no doubt about that. However, there was a single problem – his life expectancy. There existed a rare disease that ate at the Source of an individual, and there was a slight chance, barely above one percent, that the offspring could possess this same disease.
The disease could be caught by overworking the Source by using too much experimental Magic. Untested Magic had nasty side effects on humans… and humans alone. The child may be a [xxxxxx], but there was still a chance that he could possess the same disease as his mother. However, while there didn't exist a perfect cure, there was a way to temporarily hold back the symptoms of the disease. Senjutsu.
By practicing how to control your life-force, you can hold back this disease, and, in the long run, there is a chance to recover. There was also his physiology to consider. There was a high chance that even if he did end up with the disease, it would just fade away due to what he was.
That was the man's thoughts when he thought about it, and when his eyes drifted towards the small babe still within his mother's arms, the man's facial features relaxed.
"Promise me," the woman had asked of him with a petite smile, face relaxed even as the pains of childbirth took its claim on her body. "That when he is born, that he'll live a normal life… and when the day comes that he discovers this life – if that day ever comes – then you'll look upon him, and acknowledge him as ours – as yours. Promise me."
"I promise." The man promised, hand grasping her own, a tear threatened to spill, but he held himself back. The woman smiled, and went back to focusing on pushing her child, their child, out of her body, so that he may live his own life.
The man could only think fondly on his few memories of her. They had only seen one another for a few short years, and while he was already married, the laws of the [xxxxxxxxxx] weren't that strict towards such things. However, the problem arose if it was found out that the woman was a [xxxxx]. There would be many that'd wish for the death of their boy, and he could not bear that pain if he were to be taken, if he were to be killed.
As such, the man decided to make well on his promise. He would forget about his son, for now. He would forget… and if the circumstances were to be favorable, he will welcome him back to his family. He would accept him, as he'd accept any child of his. No matter their heritage, no matter what another would say.
All he could ask for… is that he'd be full of love and life.
Placing a hand against the child's head, he closed his eyes, remembering the warmth of his own child. The baby cried, and grasped at his wrist, though he wasn't able to cling to it. Within his mother's clutches, the baby was safe. But the same couldn't be said outside this room.
The man opened his eyes, and took his hand off, though left his index finger against the baby's head. A Magic Circle flared to life, its purpose – sealing.
"I'm sorry," the man breathed, voice hitching slightly as a tear slid down his cheek. "But allow me to, at the very least, name you, son of mine." A kind smile grasped upon his face, though it was hollow. "You shall be known as – that will be your name. You will adopt your mother's surname, so it'll be–. I wish you well, I wish you to be loved even a fraction of what your mother felt for you. Goodbye, my child."
The man uplifted his finger form the now sleeping baby and turned away quickly. He couldn't bear to look upon his child any longer, or else he might go back on his word. Turning to the servant, he nodded, and she moved to take the child. With a bow, she departed through a Magic Circle, most likely teleporting to the [xxxxx xxxxx].
Raising a hand, he pressed it against his eyes as he grit his teeth together with enough force so as to crack them. His heart hurt, but he made his decision. He honored his promise and fulfilled it as best he could. His son will live without knowing and without the power that was granted unto him, but it was to protect him.
The day that it comes that he needs it to live, is the day that he shall return to his true home. That, the man promised the deceased woman and their child.
–[xXx]–
–Kamiya Rodel POV–
2008, April 7th
"Yo!" I greeted the practically beaming girl who was hurrying towards me with a kind smile and right hand raised in greeting. She wore a wide smile as she saw me, and thanks to her amazing hearing, she was able to even hear me greet her with a slightly raised voice from where she was, even with the talking of other tourists and citizens around us.
"Hey, hey!" She greeted as she came towards me excitedly, throwing her hands up above her head with a brighter, open-mouthed smile on her face than mere moments before. For a slight moment, to the point that only I, who was concentrating solely on the girl before me, could notice, nine golden furred tails erupted from her back and swayed around, and two gold ears twitched on her head – all of that movement took the span of half a second. Anyone who saw such a scene would've blinked and not believed their own eyes, and then promptly ignored the situation, as a second look would reveal that no such tails or ears even existed on her.
I let a wry smile decorate my face as I realized that her transformation ability still needs work, as she still undoes it when she gets too excited, but at least her control of it was high enough to immediately put it back on before someone unaware of the Supernatural notices, unlike before when she would've forgotten about it.
Her name was Kunou, and she was the Princess of the Kyoto Faction of Youkai, a Kitsune or Nine-Tailed Fox given her unique bloodline as given to her from her mother, the Queen and Leader of the Kyoto Youkai. She was a cute, petite girl who possesses the appearance of a girl in elementary school with beautiful fair skin, which just shows how well she takes care of her body and how good her genetics are. She has soft, gold blonde hair that was tied into a short, messy ponytail behind her head, with her bangs covering her forehead and lying over her eyes at times, with the sides falling down to her neck, and matching colored eyes, which possess slits for pupils. The tips of her bangs and hair are red, which was also true for her nine-tails and ears.
Because she's a Nine-Tailed Fox, she normally has nine tails flowing from behind her body and ears lying atop her head, but because of her shapeshifting powers, she can conceal these traits so that she can appear as a normal human. She's four feet seven inches tall, or one hundred forty-two centimeters, and she wears the traditional Miko, or shrine maiden, white and red outfit, with geta, which are sandals and white tabi, which are socks. The sleeves of her haori feature a red-star shaped pentagram, which was surrounded by five smaller pentagrams in between the points.
There was also a man wearing business attire trailing behind her lugging a suitcase behind him, the wheels traveling smoothly against the concrete of the station. A sharp look existed on his features as he looked towards me, almost as if he was daring me to do anything funny to his young charge.
We are currently in Kuoh, and it was the first time we've seen one another for two years now, though due to a trip to Kyoto I had been on last year because of a school field trip, we did briefly see one another, but I won't count it as it was hardly any amount of time to catch up with. I had attended schooling in Kyoto growing up, but before I started high school, I decided to move to Kuoh and attend Kuoh Academy at the beginning of the school term, so that I didn't have to transfer schools later on. Because of this event, Kunou was quite sad to see me go, and we departed as she cried tears of farewell, wishing me well and saying that she can't wait to see me again. As for how we met? Well, it was completely by accident.
The two of us ended up bumping into the other when she lost her mother in the busy streets of Kyoto, for one reason or another. Literally, if I might add. I had quickly moved to calm her down with a slight panic, as I hadn't been in such a situation before. Though I managed to help her calm down with promises to look for her mother, I ended up purchasing a lot of sweets for her to keep her calmed and happy, to the point that my wallet was silently crying by the time we ran into her mother, Yasaka.
And wow, I had not expected what I had seen. She wore her yellow kimono loosely around her shoulders, which showed off the top of her breasts, and, as a hormonal teenager, that was essentially torture. My patience was surely tested when I had to keep my eyes up – I mean, they were right there, wide open! Disregarding her clothing choices, the woman was quite happy to have found her child, and we ended up having a positive view with one another, due to me finding her missing daughter, and due to her paying me back for what I purchased (which I accepted after attempting to turn her down, as I hadn't expected to get paid back in the slightest). I was able to meet Kunou several times thereafter, and we became quite good friends.
And since I apparently had the talent for it, Yasaka even offered to teach me Senjutsu so that nothing happened to me if I were to meet hostile members of the Supernatural world. Of course, at first, I met them as totally ordinary humans. However, after a while of meeting them, Kunou slipped up and appeared before me in her actual Kitsune appearance due to her excitement and because of that I found out about the Supernatural world that exists behind the scenes, all because of an overly-excitable fox-girl.
But I digress; ever since I transferred schools, I wasn't able to see Kunou until the little fox-girl managed to convince her mother to let her transfer to Kuoh, though I do wonder as to how she was able to do that because Yasaka was very strict with her daughter about where she could go, even if she was only wanted to look around the streets of Kyoto. But the best part about her transfer to Kuoh? Because of my foreign looks, even if I was Japanese (or half, I don't really know), Yasaka decided that we would be siblings in our time spent there together, so the two of us were living together, allowing me the opportunity to dote on Kunou even more than what I was already doing. She even organized all of the necessary documentation for us – and since I was formerly an orphan who didn't know who his parents were? Yasaka ended up adopting me into her family, so technically, we actually were siblings.
As for our residence? Well, when I moved to Kuoh, it was thanks to Yasaka's generosity that I managed to have the money needed to continue my stay there, as well as finding a good apartment complex to live in, which was near Kuoh Academy. I do have a theory that this event was planned from the start because the apartment I lived in was much bigger than what one person needed; in fact, I'd say four or even five people could live inside this one apartment because it had multiple bedrooms and enough space for at least a dozen people to comfortably move around in the apartment. Well, it was either planned on since then, or Yasaka just didn't know the meaning of spending little, which I could believe due to the size of her palace.
Looking up from the small adorable fox girl, I saw the bullet train she had arrived in slowly get ready to leave as passengers filed onto the train, but a moment later, I looked back down as the small girl neared me. A bright smile nearly blinding me, Kunou wrapped her arms around my body and firmly placed her face against my abdomen in a hug.
Smiling softly at the sight of the adorable girl against me, I reached down with my right hand and ruffled her hair and the girl looked up at me with a pout, mumbling something about me messing up her hair, but she was never really good at brushing it, so I didn't know why she'd even attempt to complain using that.
I could only laugh silently at the sight, and without further ado, I accepted the suitcase from the attendant, who gave a silent nod of farewell to the Kitsune Princess and left back onto the bullet train, and I led Kunou with our right hands interlocked with one another out of the station and towards what would be our apartment.
–[xXx]–
During the time that it took to go from the station to our residence, Kunou adopted the look of the most eager tourist I've ever seen. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around Kuoh, from the buildings to the trees, to birds that flew around, to the residents of the city – she pretty much got a good look at everything and everyone we passed, with enough excitement to fill a bus by herself.
And when we entered the apartment? She proceeded to run throughout it, sniffing the air of each room and looking at literally everything. I had to roll my eyes at such a childish sight, but in all fairness, she was still twelve, even though she managed to skip a few years due to her rigorous studying sessions with her mother and private tutors.
Her goal was apparently to transfer into my class, but she only managed to get into the third year of Junior High School. One year before high school. It was a disappointment to her, but it was still excellent work for a girl who never actually went to school and only studied intensively the last two years that I was gone.
Because she was a Youkai, especially a Kitsune, she would live one thousand years until she was matured in her entirety. And from there? Well, I didn't really know how long a Kitsune could live for, but Yasaka told me that she was around for a long time, and I managed to barely control myself to not ask about her age, knowing that my curiosity might anger the Kitsune. I know that Yasaka has completely matured, so she was at least one thousand years old, but from there? I had no clue and didn't wish to find out.
But anyway, the point I was trying to make, was that Kunou had all that time to study, so of course she was taking things at a snail's pace. Her lax attitude suited her fine, and Yasaka had no intention of speeding things up – that was until Kunou went to her and asked to learn anything and everything, apparently.
Because of this, Kunou was certainly smarter than other girls her age, considering she skipped a few years of schooling based on her age, and with her pace, she'll finish high school one year before most normal people would enroll in high school, and she also trained Senjutsu extensively in that time period.
From what little Yasaka had told me through the few messages we've had with one another over the two years, Kunou was now rather adept at using Senjutsu and Youjutsu and has begun to tap into Touki, though she wasn't able to completely bring it out yet, and even her Fox-Fire was far stronger than what normal Kitsune would have at her age.
This was the work of her being a Nine-Tailed Fox Kitsune, due to her genetics as Yasaka's daughter, and from actually honing her skills. Supernatural beings were naturally strong; however, most rarely trained and simply allowed their power to grow by the passage of time and through study. Because of this, they were far weaker than what they could be, especially during this time of strained peace.
Either way, even though she was so much stronger than two years ago when I last really saw her, she was still the same easily excitable little girl who couldn't keep her shapeshifting up when she was too excited, making it quite an adorable sight to behold.
After all, the minute the door closed behind her, her ears and tails popped out of her body as she began to search her new home. She was simply too excited; she was barely able to contain herself when looking around what little of Kuoh we had walked through, so it was only the obvious that getting home would send her over the edge.
With Kunou far too excited to settle down, I went about picking a room for her (which was to the left of my room, which was the first bedroom in the hallway on the left side, with a bathroom right across from my door, and another down the hall on the same side), and began to unpack her belongings.
Clothing, which contained casual wear for going out, an extra Miko attire just in case, her school uniform, socks, and underwear, jewelry that no doubt Yasaka had placed in without Kunou noticing, as the young Kitsune wasn't really interested in such things, make-up, which consisted of lipstick and eyeliner, some other items that she needed, like dental care, and even a plushy of a black Eastern Dragon that I recognized as what Kunou usually clung to when sleeping, as well as a few fox-shaped plushies.
With a gentle smile, I went about organizing everything. Once the room was furnished with all of her items, with the only thing left to do, was to get her bed ready to be slept on, Kunou entered the room quickly, an excited smile on her face as she looked around it. Kunou had already been in the room earlier before I even picked it, and during the unpacking of her stuff, but those times she only looked around quickly before leaving. Now, it seemed as if she wanted to get a better look at what would be her room.
"Wooow, so neat and organized!" She commented as she looked over the current state of the room with her things in it. Moving over towards the drawers, she began to look through her clothing to see how I arranged it all.
In the top right drawer, I placed her top wear, the middle right drawer was bottom wear, and bottom the right drawer was her underwear. In the top left drawer, I placed her Miko attire, which spanned across half of the space (the other half would be set with the Miko outfit she was currently wearing), middle left drawer possessed her school uniform and the bottom left drawer were socks.
I also set her school shoes down in front of the left side of the drawer so that it was near her school uniforms. The reason the drawer was used for her outfits, was because there was no wardrobe in the bedroom, which didn't really seem to bother her, even though I knew she kept all of her clothing in a wardrobe when she lived with Yasaka in Kyoto.
The only type of outfit I could think of that she was missing, was her many sets of kimono, though I suppose she can simply have them teleported over if she sets up a Magic Circle in the house, which the study already had one, courtesy of Yasaka when she originally set me up with this big apartment. The only reason that Kunou and the attendant took the train, is because she wanted to travel to Kuoh like a normal girl, like a normal student, like a normal younger sister.
It was adorable, the two of us agreed over the last text we had sent between the two of us.
"I'm going to go get some bedsheets and stuff." I told Kunou as I exited the room, to which she simply sent me a warm smile as she continued to look around the room, rearranging some of her things as she did.
After two hours, the two of us were sat at the dining table which could seat ten people. I might as well just admit it; this apartment is like a penthouse. It's too damn big; it was probably the best living area for apartments in Kuoh that was near Kuoh Academy and I'm sort of glad that I never saw how much the area cost to live in since Yasaka took care of that for me.
We were currently eating curry, which Kunou prepared all on her own, much to my surprise. I knew the girl couldn't cook when I was still in Kyoto, so she must've learned after I left, most likely for my benefit, even though I could somewhat cook for myself.
Well, I certainly wasn't going to question it – I'll just enjoy the food graciously and with a smile firmly planted on my face at being able to eat Kunou's, or rather, my little sister's, homemade cooking. I was actually quite touched that she would do this for me.
After finishing the meal, I went about washing the dishes as she set the leftovers in the fridge before drying the dishes that I finished washing. With our combined teamwork, we managed to finish within minutes, and with that, we left the apartment. Our destination was Kuoh Academy, Junior High School division.
The school term would be starting next Monday, and it was currently Saturday, so we only had one more day of peace before the start of the term. I wanted to, at the very least, show Kunou the school she would be attending and other such sights around Kuoh, before the sun goes down. Though we only had a few hours to do this as it was already the evening, and the sun was slowly trailing down in the blue sky above.
The rest of the day was, for the most part, uneventful. Though you could only really consider it that once you get used to how Kunou looked around at everything with sparkling eyes, as if it was the first time she even saw, well, anything. Her excitement knew no bound, and it garnered quite a few laughs from passing civilians who looked after the girl with warm gazes, probably remembering the time they were children and had gone on a trip or their own excitable children.
When we had reached the school that she would be attending, I knew that someone began to watch me, or rather, us. The energy I picked up was familiar, so I knew it was a Devil, and judging by the quality of it and my familiarity with it, I knew that it belonged to one Sona Sitri. She was probably at the Senior High School division getting paperwork ready and all that jazz that the Student Council had to deal with. It was such a pain; I definitely didn't want to be in her peerage if I'd have to do paperwork.
Doing homework was damning enough; I don't want to be cast off into the dark reaches of the Underworld because of all that extra amount of work!
"I'm so excited to begin my first year of actual school!" Kunou eagerly said, looking up at me with a cute expression on her face and knocking me out of my earlier thoughts.
"Oh, yeah." I replied with a tinge of excitement marking my tone. "It's like that with me too; no matter how long I attend school, I think I'll always be excited for a new year of it."
"Really?" Kunou blinked, surprised. "Even you who had attended for years and years?"
"Yep." I nodded in confirmation.
Kunou's eyes widened and then she threw her hands up into the air with a happy look marking her face. "Yay! We're the same, the same!" She practically cheered, excitement oozing out of her as she giggled at her antics. I caught a flicker of movement from her tails before they disappeared, so fast that I almost missed it.
I couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "Yes, we're the same little sis." I dropped a hand against her head and ruffled her hair around a little, much to her annoyance (read: happiness).
"Aww, stop it! I worked hard on styling this hair of mine!" She threw her arms around to the side with hands balled up into fists as if she was throwing a tantrum with eyes tightly knit closed in feigned displeasure – it was, simply put, cute. It made me want to tease her more.
Laughing, I decided to let her off the hook – for now. In all good time, I'll take the time to tease her immensely to make up for the past two years' worth of not seeing one another. Kunou balked at seeing the predatory grin of an incoming tease on my face and shivered in what could've been either fright or happiness at the attention she would no doubt receive in the near future.
After leaving the office of the school with Kunou's paperwork filled out completely and having received a small tour of the building, we decided to take a small trip over to the neighborhood park. While there, Kunou looked around in excitement, though it was clear she was becoming more and more tired as the seconds ticked on by, until eventually, the girl slowed to a crawl, eyelids wanting to close from fatigue.
She was, after all, still a little girl. No matter how much energy she has, she'll always be weak to the end of the day, and her seemingly boundless energy would definitely run out with how excited she had been throughout the day. The sun was barely still hanging in the sky, though soon it'll be descending below the horizon, bathing this side of the world in darkness as the moon rises above it all.
Smiling wryly, I plucked the small girl up and carried her like the Princess that she was. She gave a slanted smile and closed her eyes to nap. I couldn't help but chuckle at her low-energy levels, and without wait, I began to head back home–
Or that's what I would've done if not for a presence watching us with clear hostile intent aimed toward us.
Stopping in track in the middle of the park, beside a fountain, I looked around for a few moments before sighing. Perhaps thinking that my suspicion would draw out whoever was hiding, I hadn't used my Senjutsu to just find them. However, seeing as to how they were adamant about hiding in the trees, I stayed still and let my Senjutsu pulse.
In a second, I found one living organism that wasn't like the rest that was nearby. The Source, or its energy signature, that it gave off was ominous, though its center was full of light. It was like a chocolate ball with a creamy inside. In other words, it was a Fallen Angel. Judging by the quality of the energy, it was clear that they only possessed a single set of wings.
Nodding, I decided to call them out as I looked straight towards where they were hiding and see what would happen.
"I know you're watching, so come on out before you regret it!"
The wind picked up around me, leaves danced in the air. Before my eyes, a single leaf passed over my vision – and a man wearing a fedora and coat appeared twenty meters before my eyes, right hand holding the tip of the hat over his eyes, a frown marking his lips. He then raised the fedora as he looked up at me, a glare in his eyes as we made eye contact.
–[xXx]–
–Dohnaseek POV–
The moment we had arrived in this filthy town ruled by Devils, we had picked up a rather disturbing Source. After a small moment of casual observation, we deduced that the human possessed knowledge of the Supernatural and had a higher than average life-force, which might have denoted him as the practitioner of Senjutsu.
But a human was a human, and we ruled him as a threat to our mission, however low his threat might be. As such, he would be eliminated before our mission was set to begin. Unfortunately, he never stepped out and entered an area by his lonesome. He only went to very specific places, hardly looking around and not late at night so that he could be caught alone without eyewitnesses nearby.
We couldn't attack his home due to a barrier that was placed over it; it would alert him to our attack, and he might be able to alert the Devils that ran this territory. As such, we took a backseat and waited. And watched.
Our patience was well-rewarded in the form of a small girl that was able to mask her appearance as a Kitsune, but she wasn't able to completely mask her scent as one. Just by sensing from a distance, we could tell she wasn't human – this only lends credence to his threat. He had possible Youkai allies, and as such, our mission in this town became more difficult.
However, only one Youkai stayed, the other, which must've been an attendant, had left. The child didn't appear to be that strong, and she was still a kid in any case. With her hyperactive attitude, she would wear herself out eventually and fall asleep. Hopefully, while they were busy exploring the town.
And that was what ended up happening. I had contacted my comrades of this turn of events, and Raynare, the commander in charge of this mission even though I was definitely stronger than her, gave the go-ahead on killing the human and Youkai.
However, while I was stalking him and awaiting a good moment to take care of the trash, he seemed to have noticed me. I almost cursed, remembering that he was supposed to be relatively good at Senjutsu, but I decided to not get mad at spilled milk, as humans would say. Instead of getting mad, I decided to show myself. After all, I was a Fallen Angel. What did I have to be afraid of from a mere human?
"My name is Dohnaseek," I told the pitiful human as I stuffed my hands into my coat pockets. "And you are my prey."
He lifted an eyebrow at my choice of words and set down the girl on the edge of the fountain, though his eyes never left mine. I wouldn't be so foolish as to suddenly attack when his back was turned anyway – it'd be an insult to my pride, and he would be able to sense my approach anyway due to his Senjutsu. No point in aggravating a dead man anyway.
"Kamiya Rodel," he told me with a calm demeanor. "The little one is Kunou." I glanced at the small fox-child but shrugged. She was a non-threat. Given her attire, she might've been the offspring of some high-official Kitsune, but her shapeshifting still needed work. Several times throughout the day, her tails and ears had popped up, but she was able to hide them quickly before someone noticed.
As a Fallen Angel, I, of course, noticed each and every time this had happened, and the human, Rodel, had also noticed as well, if his short glances aimed at her were any indication.
Speaking of the human, he was a little below average height for a male his age, being about five feet six inches, and he has clear blue eyes, reminiscent of the sky. Blond hair fell over his head, with the bangs covering most of his forehead and falling down to his eyebrows, as well as covering his ears, though the left side was brushed back, leaving part of his forehead revealed. He had fair skin and a nonchalant expression on his face, though this look will soon be switched into fear.
He wore a white hoodie that has short sleeves with a red-star pentagram on the left shoulder, which also possessed five similar stars between each point: the same as the girl. Under the hoodie, he wore a black shirt with some red at the collar, standard blue jeans, white socks, and black shoes with red soles and string.
He had some style in his clothing decisions, and I was sure that the idiot Mittelt might like his attire, especially the pentagram on his shoulder. She was into the occult, even though she was a damned Fallen Angel. Then again, one of the Devil groups at Kuoh Academy liked to play make-believe in an Occult Club, so it was probably a trait shared by idiots.
I shrugged and brought my hands out of my pockets.
"I'm guessing that means you're ready to fight?" Rodel questioned at seeing me remove my hands from my pockets, raising his own hands with fists clenched. I scoffed.
"Fight? How laughable." I told him seriously, causing him to frown in confusion. "This will be a slaughter." This time, he was the one who scoffed.
"I'm glad you recognize your funeral Fallen, but I'm not a murderer – I'd appreciate it if you were to back off before I get serious." My left eye twitched at his words as anger filled me to the brim.
"A human dares to order me!? ME!?" Bringing my right hand up, blue light began to occupy the space around my fingers, and then in a dazzling show of light, a brilliant blue Light Spear formed from this smaller light. My fingers enclosed around it, and I spun the spear around my body with grace and skill, before pointing it at the human as I lowered myself into a fighting stance. "You will pay for what you have said!"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get to this quickly before you wake up the kid."
With those words, I charged forward faster than any human could ever hope to reach – And promptly stopped in my tracks, feet skidding against the concrete pathway, as I was forced to hop back and dodge a white bullet that exploded against the ground where I had just been.
The human's right fist was extended, and a white aura could be seen hanging off of it. A sly grin marked his lips, as this aura then compressed and hugged his hand. Pulling the hand back, he punched forward again, and a second bullet sped towards me. Damned Senjutsu!
I couldn't help but complain in my head as I deployed my black feathery wings to help me dodge in the air. The human then began to punch rapidly with his right and left arm, white bullets firing towards me faster than I could throw my Light Spear.
I dodged left and right, flew up and down, spun around in the air, and stopped suddenly when his aim was well-calculated towards where I would dodge next. My battle experience was what kept me in the game, warning me as to where his attacks would go just from seeing the direction of his fist pointing and instantly calculating the line of path the bullets would travel from his hand, as well as where he directed his eyes, which showed his true intention.
Their speed was fast enough to catch me off guard at first, but after half a minute of dodging around, I was slowly becoming used to his attacks, even if he began to fire them rapidly, one after the other. And then, seeing an opportunity, I smirked, pulling my right arm back.
The human's eyes widened a fraction, and then he punched both hands forward towards me – but my action of throwing the spear was a bait. I had begun to notice that it takes a second to charge up his bullet, and thanks to having two hands, he was able to shoot one every half a second. However, he never fired both at the same time – until now. The reason was simple: if he fired both at the same time, I could rush toward him in the second it'd take to charge up an additional attack.
With our distances being close, he was probably worried that I was fast enough to get close to him within a second, so he always kept one hand ready to fire. As long as he had that half a second, he would remain untouched. However, if I were to prepare to throw my spear the moment that I became comfortable...
He would go all in and attack with both hands, in hope of countering the thrown spear and taking me out at once. However, this decision was incorrect. The act of my throwing my spear was bait the entire time, and he fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
I flew towards him with a savage grin on my face as the two white bullets raced past me. He pulled a hand back and began to charge up an additional attack, but it would be too late–
A force slammed into my chest and spittle flew from my mouth as my sudden momentum ceased within a single moment. There wasn't anything I could do; I didn't even realize he had attacked; I couldn't see anything. Flying back with pain flaring in my chest (most likely a rib had been fractured from the force of the blow) I saw that the human hadn't moved from what I saw, though now he had both fists charged up and ready to fire the white bullet at me.
"What the Hell...?" I murmured to myself with eyes narrowed as I rubbed my chest. It didn't leave a physical mark and instead pierced through my defense and straight to my insides. Or rather, it affected me Spiritually, rather than physically. The rib breaking was most likely due to the force at which I had been stopped, with the aching pain that erupted a moment later being the Spiritual part of the attack.
Senjutsu was difficult to fight against, because it normally targeted the life-force of opponents, instead of their actual body. They were worn down at a Spiritual level, no matter how strong they were on the physical level. As such, even a human could defeat a Fallen Angel... is what he was getting at. However, I was a Fallen Angel! I wouldn't fall for the same trick twice... I just had to figure out how it worked, and then I'd be able to avoid it.
The human grinned, which ticked me off. But before I could race towards him, another force, this one weaker than the last, hit me in the left shoulder, causing me to lose my balance in the air for a moment, before correcting it with a flap of my wings. My arm became numb for a moment, before feeling returned in my fingers and hand, but the numbness continued on my shoulder.
"What!?" I shouted, not knowing what had happened for me to have earned such a blow in the first place.
"Well, Mister Fedora–"
"Dohnaseek!" I immediately denied the nickname in rage, but the human continued as if I hadn't shouted at him.
"–the reason that you were struck without you knowing why is because Senjutsu is normally invisible. The reason as to why you see the bullets that I punch your way is because it's more concentrated. Of course, you can sense anything I throw at you if you were good enough to do so, but you're not, so they'll remain attacks you cannot anticipate.
"The second reason as to why you can't dodge is because I can launch them from anywhere that I want to, within a certain distance from my body, of course. Because of this, I can attack you even from behind you, but only if the distance remains true."
"Fucking shit..." I cursed, recognizing the truth of what he had said. A practitioner of Senjutsu was a difficult opponent to fight against. They could strengthen their bodies to more than double, triple, or even quadruple their base power, they could sense anyone approaching them from a certain distance away from them, depending on their skill level, they can sense attacks which possess a form of energy (a bullet fired from a gun would go unnoticed, but a bullet shot through Magic would be sensed even if they had their eyes closed), and they could target an opponent Spiritually, instead of physically.
The worst part about their attacks, is that it can be unpredictable because they are using an energy source which is normally invisible. If it becomes dense, as he had said, then it could be seen. It's like a miniature version of Touki; an aura of life-force that presides over the body thanks to their control over their inner ki. However, if he were to lower the concentration, while the attack power would go down, the attacks would actually become more devastating because many opponents would be unable to sense them.
Out of the four Fallen Angels that the Grigori sent to Kuoh, Mittelt was definitely the best at sensing energy, with me being the worst. This was primarily because I was a more front-line fighter, while she stuck to the back due to her own cowardice and slothfulness. In any case, it was near impossible for me to locate his attacks if the density was too low, which considering how he pegged me twice already...
I clicked my tongue, flapping my wings to raise my body higher into the sky. Scowling down at the human, I could only curse his name as I had no choice but to turn tail and run.
"I'll remember this dirty human." I seethed as I threw my Light Spear down at him, making sure to aim a few paces in front of him. The Light Spear crashed into the ground, cracking and penetrating the concrete easily, before exploding, with the distance between himself and the spear practically assuring him that he wouldn't be affected – but the light generated from it blinded him as to my escape.
I was sure he'd be able to track me with his shitty Senjutsu, but taking out one of his senses might be enough to throw him off if he wasn't as good at attacking a Source he could sense without vision on his target.
Like I had thought, no attack had come after me, though this could be because of my distance from him, or because he simply didn't want to attack since I was leaving. I couldn't help but put my right hand against my left shoulder as pain flickered across my face. Even if the attack was far weaker than what he could've done, an attack that had been done to the Spirit always hurt more than an attack done to the physical body.
At the very least, it wasn't like a Grim Reaper's scythe which could cut away life-force permanently.
It took five minutes to land before the double-doors leading into the Church residing at the edge of Kuoh on the top of a hill surrounded by trees. It had been abandoned years ago and was currently in disarray, which made it the perfect hideout for Fallen Angels. The Devils won't go near it because of the Holy aura that stuck around, even until now, Priests and Nuns won't enter because of its rundown state, and Angels were too cowardly to even appear in the human world to give a shit. Perhaps if they were under order to restore the building, sure, but under normal circumstances? They would stay away as it could be housing Fallen Angels or excommunicated Exorcists.
I pushed the door open with a single hand and entered the dump we currently called a base. A glance around the main area revealed two different individuals. One that I didn't really want to see, and another that I definitely didn't want to see. Namely, the first being Raynare, and the second being Freed Sellzen.
The former was a Fallen Angel and the leader of this operation, while the latter is an Excommunicated Exorcist and a rather insane individual that had a boner for killing Devils and cats. The second was simply guesswork due to his inane tendencies; I had yet to find him kill such an insignificant lifeform, but I didn't put it past him to do so.
"Well?" Raynare pursed her lips as she turned her eyes toward me, a slight grin on her face. "How did your mission go, Dohnaseek?" She wore a casual dress that one might wear when going out with friends. The top was a deep burgundy while the bottom with a light lavender. The skirt only reached down between her knees and hips, but it was enough to hide what she wore underneath.
She also had on black heels, and had a silver necklace hung over her neck, with a similar ring on her right ring finger. Crinkling my nose in disgust, I could smell her foul taste in perfume from all the way over here.
"Poorly, most likely~!" Freed sang, lifting his arms and pointing the hands skyward with a wide smile on his face. "Oh, little Dohnaby, if only you brought the strong and amazing me with you... perhaps then, you'll actually get laid with more than just your hypnotism, hahahaha!"
"Shut your disgusting face, human." I snarled at the former Exorcist of the Vatican, which only caused his laughter to increase. Rolling my eyes, I turned my attention back to Raynare, who looked amused by my anger. "As for your question... I failed."
Freed's laughter paused at such a revelation before a twisted smile sprung across his face as he had to clutch his stomach in pain from his sudden laughing fit. "Oh my, oh shit, that's just! Wow, you actually failed!? Damn, that's hilarious! Fuck me, is today my birthday? No, no. If it was my birthday, then I'm sure I'd be smacking some ass right now and killing Devils like no one else had ever killed them before!"
In all of this, Raynare remained silent, eyes staring into my own with what could've been a silent rage. However, crossing her arms where she leaned against a pew, she huffed. "Well, I expected more from you." While Freed continued laughing, I was still able to hear her words, even though she hadn't spoken up. "What can you tell me about this... human?"
"He's quite adept at Senjutsu. He was able to lure me in with a false sense of security at what I had assumed was the reaches of his power, but he managed to prove me wrong with a well-crafted trap I hadn't expected."
"I see, interesting." Raynare clutched her chin with a hand delicately as I gave her a description of the powers he had shown, and a few extra descriptions through guesswork toward what he could know from my own understanding of Senjutsu. After several moments of thought, a sick smile slipped over her lips, which dwarfed the likes of that former Exorcist. "I have an idea, a precious idea indeed. Would you like to hear it?"
"Of course." I answered as I cracked my neck. "If it allows me to rip out his heart? Even more so."
She laughed. "Well, then. Allow me to tell you how we'll kill him... and complete our mission, all in one fell swoop."
–[xXx]–
–Rias Gremory–
Frowning, I stared out of the window in the Occult Research Club room in the old school building. I could vaguely sense that a fight had recently taken place, though it was far enough away that I couldn't pick it out immediately, and it was a little difficult to ascertain who had been fighting after the fight had concluded.
However, after a little patience was used, the two Sources which trembled as energy was released from them were difficult to mistake, one through familiarity and the other through circumstance. The former belonged to a certain student at this school, and the other to one of the four Fallen Angels that had recently arrived in Kuoh. More than likely, the latter had agitated the former and a fight broke out, but it hadn't lasted that long. Most likely... a minute top?
I sighed dejectedly, remembering that the human in question had denied being Reincarnated into my Pawn. He would've taken at least half of my Pawns to be Reincarnated, though I hadn't accurately checked since he had denied it without hesitation. It was as if he was prepared for that eventuality of me asking him... or rather, it was quite obvious that he'd be asked at some point given his power, so he probably already thought through it.
It also meant that there wasn't much I could give him that could even get him to think about changing his mind. It was quite troublesome, especially since a certain prick was pushing for the wedding to be hurried along. For the sake of the Underworld, I was still in school. Well, granted it was my choice to attend and that human school didn't matter much to Devils, but the point still stands!
Behind me, the near quiet steps of my Queen reached me. Turning to look, I saw that she held a tray with a single cup of tea placed in the center with steam gently spiraling from it. A smile pushed itself onto my face at seeing my Queen approach to give me support, and I couldn't help but thank her sincerely.
"Thank you, like always, Akeno."
"Of course, Rias." She replied without missing a beat, her usual smile on her face, but this time, it certainly wasn't fake. After accepting the teacup from the tray, Akeno turned and departed, most likely to place the tray down and to get some tea for herself. I blew on the tea for a moment, before taking a sip. It was just as good as always, if a bit sweeter than usual.
The sweetness kept my thoughts away from the past, and I turned my attention back to the current. Kamiya Rodel – he was a student that moved from Kyoto to Kuoh and pretty much bought the closest penthouse to Kuoh Academy, located on the fifth floor of an apartment complex, and even placed a powerful barrier around it. Further studies showed that it would alert the owners if an enemy would dare to trespass, to which two had been registered at the time, and a third registered recently, but I'll get to that later. He has some powerful connections, but I haven't yet ascertained who they were just yet.
He's also trained in Senjutsu, Touki, and Youjutsu, which means those connections may be Youkai, though this is just a speculation. Lending further credence to this speculation of mine, is the fact that he came from Kyoto, where Yasaka resides. It might have just been a coincidence, but it could be possible that he's related to her in some manner of form, though it was clear that he didn't possess even an ounce of Youkai blood in himself.
However, today marked a change in this speculation that I've had since meeting him last year. Today, a certain Kitsune by the name of Kunou had arrived in Kuoh, who had been the third individual registered with the barrier that surrounds his living area. I wouldn't put it past the Fallen Angels for knowing that she was the Princess of the Kyoto Faction of Youkai, and attempt to kidnap her, but if so, their attempt was quite poor. In any case, with some simple observation, and information revealed to me by Sona, it appears as if the two have adopted a sibling connection to the other.
As in, Kunou would formally be known as Kamiya Kunou while in Kuoh Academy, the adoptive younger sister of Kamiya Rodel. The two are also going to be living together in the penthouse that Rodel lives in.
With all the necessary information in place, even if there are a few missing dots and lines, I came to my conclusion: Kamiya Rodel is intimately connected to Yasaka. Be it through her daughter, or from some other source, I didn't know, but given that she was trusting him with her one and only daughter and child, and it starts making sense.
Biting the inside of my cheek, my thoughts turned towards a different source that filled me with anxiety: that of Hyoudou Issei, the current possessor of the Longinus [Boosted Gear]. Since his enrollment into Kuoh Academy, I had a feeling that he possessed a powerful Sacred Gear, but I had no way to figure out what it was at the time. While at first, I simply ignored him as I focused on other things, the moment he activated the Sacred Gear alerted me to what he possessed, and I desperately wanted to recruit him into my peerage.
But there was one problem.
And once again, it ties back to him. Kamiya Rodel.
During his second year in Kuoh Academy, Rodel made friends with his junior Issei, and during that time, the two definitely talked about a wide variety of subjects. According to the rumors, Rodel was attempting to make Issei less perverted, or less obvious about it. Because of this, a rift grew between Issei and his two other friends, and Issei's inclusion as one of the Perverted Trio soon became null and void as he stopped peeking as much and stopped reading pornography at school.
Though he was still perverted, the girls now put up with him, instead of insulting him and attacking him. After all, there is no reason to do this after he stopped his perverted actions for the most part. Rodel was even fawned over for his actions in fixing Issei, earning him the nickname of Saint of Kuoh. It's also said that he attempted to also help the new Perverted Duo, but they pushed him away, and this also included Issei.
Thanks to the help of Rodel, Issei found a new friend in the former, as the two began to train a bit together, most likely, to make sure Issei was strong enough to protect himself from Supernatural beings that decided to be hostile toward him. Issei became a bit stronger, and while he still makes perverted comments, he now keeps it in moderation.
Regardless of these positive changes, Rodel also helped him unlock his Sacred Gear – meaning Issei now knows about the Supernatural. Though given how he hasn't approached Sona nor I, or any of our servants, I doubt he knows that we're Devils.
Rodel avoids the subject when I bring it up, and when I dangle me Reincarnating Issei into my peerage, he simply shrugs and makes no move to refute me. I couldn't understand him, but I suppose that is why he's so interesting.
It also doesn't help that he vaguely resembles Riser Phenex, but that was something I already came to terms with, as I had originally disliked him on sight, but I quickly grew out of this. He wasn't Riser, and he definitely wasn't a Phenex. Just because he resembled my would-be-husband, doesn't mean that he's related in any way. That was simply absurd; Rodel wasn't even a tenth Devil!
Coughing into a fist from my derailed thoughts, I decided to simply sit down and get back to paperwork. At least then I'd actually be doing something productive, instead of simply standing around and making baseless conjectures in my head. With that settled, I finished the rest of the tea, complimented Akeno about its taste, and continued with my work as she went about getting me a refill, which I hadn't asked for, but certainly won't refuse.
And, I have been resurrected to write DxD once more! While this isn't one of the earlier stories I have written, it is one that I wish to write. As you may have noticed, our main character has a few secrets towards his own birth, though it is possible to figure out who his parents are, or could be. Moving past that, I would like to say that the last few days for me were a bit bad, and I'll soon have another bad day.
Friday resulted in my car dying, and Saturday was spent fixing its problems. I replaced the alternator in my car, and I also have to see about replacing the power steering hose and getting it checked up to see if there are any leaks... there definitely are some leaks. And then, Monday will be great since Crusader King 3 will be releasing, but Tuesday will be the one year anniversary of my dog passing away... it'll be sad.
But anyway, allow me to get back to this story.
Rodel, our protagonist, will have a harem, though its size is still small, and might stay that way. After crunching the numbers, I've arrived at four members of this harem that he will possess. For sake of fairness, I shall reveal them to you!
Elmenhilde, Iryuka, Mittelt, and Lint! And yes, Kunou isn't in it, because they see one another as siblings. As for who else will be in it? Err, if you want to suggest someone, then I'm all ears, but I can't guarantee that they will be added.
Besides from that, if you liked, then please follow. If you really liked, please favorite. And if you want to tell me anything, what you liked about the chapter, tips/suggestions/advice and other such things, to give me a recommendation for his harem, or anything else really, then please leave a review! It does help me with motivation in the long run.
I already have the second chapter finished, though I'm going to be looking over it a bit longer before posting it too. Probably after work tomorrow I should be done with that, so you might see this late Monday or early Tuesday. With that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and story idea that I decided to post today!
Thanks for reading!