High School DXD: The Last Yoshikage Chapter 7, a high school dxd/ハイスクールd×d fanfic

Sinnerlust: A very good question, yes Raynare could have just seduced him, but as explained in the last chapter, she listened to Asumoto's advice by getting to know Issei meaning it'll be IsseiXRaynare until he starts forming his harem. And since he wasn't traumatized by Raynare murdering him Issei, while still a pervert, will be romantic to the girls he meets.

Guest: Don't worry I plan to keep it single paring. As for the hate on Rias, yes she does have flaws but she still dose care about everyone, I just haven't gotten around to showing it yet, the issue between her and Asumoto will have light shed on bit by bit and the whole revelation will be known around the Riser arc, which will be coming soon.

Republic Che: Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it.

Guest: Yes very true, Rias has done some crude things but remember, she is a devil and devils are greedy and selfish beings. Those along with her pride and arrogance outweigh her kindness. Plus she, along with Issei, don't have any tragic backstories like the rest of the peerage. That's why I prefer paring OC's with Akeno, even if she's a sadist and masochist. She's still a sweet girl in need of love for her tragic childhood. Lastly Rias didn't even help her servant's problems, Issei did, and that makes her a bad friend and master. I'm not saying I hate her, but she, like many other characters have flaws.

lone. fallen. wolf: Thanks, how Iwamatsu knows Asumoto is something I plan to save for later.

Chapter 7

It was common for Kuoh Academy to get a new study from somewhere around Japan, but today was different. Today the new student wasn't Japanese, but a foreign exchange study, a pretty Italian girl with blonde hair, green eyes, shy personality, with a still developing figure that many of the boy's in Kuoh found very cute, especially a certain trio of perverts.

"She looks like an Angel." Many people said when first seeing her.

They would be right, if she hadn't been reincarnated as Rias Bishop the night before, which was Akeno was being told at this very moment by Asumoto during lunch.

"So Rias obtained the Twilight Healing through a trade with a Fallen Angel huh? Never heard of something like that happening."

Asumoto shrugged, "Expect the unexpected I say. Besides Asia will be of more help than Issei."

"You seem to not like Issei that much." Akeno said wondering why the Devil had so much distain for the brunette.

"Because he's a pervert. I mean there are lots of perverts in the world but some people can control there perverted thoughts. Issei and his band of misfits only care about boobs and sex."

"And what about you? Are you a pervert~?"

Asumoto winked, "A secret you'll learn another time~"

"Speaking of secrets, I assume you didn't tell Rias Issei was dating a Fallen Angel?"

"Oh she knew, but she didn't do anything about it. She thought Issei would get murdered by Raynare and Rias would swoop in and resurrected him as her servant, which as you can see backfired and she lost him to the Fallen Angels."

"Is that a reason why you don't like Rias so much? Because she doesn't act like a proper leader?" She knew Asumoto didn't like Issei but she still couldn't understand the hate for Rias. He'd throw glares at her and say crude things behind her back. Maybe it had something to do with him being reincarnated as her Queen…

"Sorta," Asumoto admitted, "But it goes deeper than that, which I don't feel comfortable talking about yet."

"Then will you tell me about your family at least?" Akeno asked deciding to bring up a different topic.

"Family…" The Devil's lips purses together and his eyes got heavy as if remembering something from long ago. "My father was a good man, always looking out for my mother and older brother. My older was the one to teach me swordsmanship and archery."

"What about your mother?"

"….I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her."

"Oh Asumoto, I'm so sorry." Akeno apologized while resting a hand on his shoulder while twinge of pain filled her. While she had both parents, all he had was a father and eldering sibling. Now both were parentless, sorta. Her father left after failing to protect her mother but she still had her uncle.

"What about relatives?"

"I have none….they all passed away."

….impossible! There was no way all of his family relieves could have died! No uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, not even grandparents!? Either he was lying or…

"You know Asumoto, you're being very shady about your past!" The ravenette said with a frown, "Will you not share something about yourself? I can't understand you're reason for hating reason or how you have no relatives to take care of you?"

"Because they were massacred damn it!"

Akeno stared wide eyed at his response, the Samurai's own eyes doing the same once realizing what he said before feeling the cafeteria. His whole family was massacred? How, why, and most importantly, by who? Did Rias-no she probably didn't know that…or did she?

Rising to her feet the Shinto priestess marched out of the cafeteria to where she would find the red haired Devil. That girl had to know something about her Queen, if not her then at least maybe Koneko or Kiba. Hell maybe even the Kendo club, but first she'd try Rias.

It didn't take long for her to arrive at the clubroom to find Rias sitting at her desk reading a book. Her eyes flew up when hearing someone enter unannounced before a smile came to her face.

"Hello, Akeno-san, what can I do for you?"

"Questions, Rias, I need questions. I'm confused."

"About?"

"You're Queen, Asumoto. Do you know anything about him? What's his last name, dose he follow any religion, why dose he hate you?"

Rias stared at the ponytail girl, she hadn't expected something like this to be asked. She half expected Asumoto would be close with Akeno but like her, he was being stubborn. Guess it wouldn't hurt to shed some light on him, or at least what she knew. Putting her book down and removing her glasses she answering the girl. "Honestly, I too don't know what his last name is, as for religion, I believe he said he was Christina. However, I think he's lying about his religion. When I first encountered him, there was no cross or bible on him, instead he had prayer beads and was wearing the type of attire a Shinto priest. I didn't wanna push the subject about it with him, but I believe Asumoto was a Shinto follower.

"Is that why he's so loathsome to you? Because you resurrected him?"

Rias nodded with a sad sigh, "That may be why unfortunately. I truly want to get to know him better but he's being so stubborn about it. He won't let anyone, not me, Kiba, or Koneko into his house. He's so secretive that I wonder maybe he's hiding something he wants nobody to know about."

Of course he did, he didn't want anyone to know he was a Shinto. At least Rias explained why Asumoto was so hostile toward her, he once was a human reincarnated into a Devil. This left the priestess with the question of telling Asumoto that she spoke to Rias about him, which she was sure would upset him but like with everyone else he was being stubborn about his past. He accidently let slip his whole family was dead, which she wanted to know how that happened and what or who could have caused it.

"So, why hasn't he gone stray if he didn't like being a Devil?"

"That's obvious, Akeno, he doesn't want get hunted down and exterminated. All Strays are to be killed before they can cause havoc on the human world, yet with the power I sense flowing through him, and the skills he has, I'm pretty sure he can survive going Stray."

"But he hasn't yet."

"Or never will. I've known him for five years and he's never tried to stray. Probably because he, like me, knows that even if he left my servitude he'd still stay a Devil."

"Probably. Well I better get going class will restart soon, and perhaps I can apologize to Asumoto for earlier. Thank you for the information Rias. Farewell for now." Akeno departed the clubroom with a friendly way to the red haired beauty.

'Asumoto, who are you?' She asked herself as she walked down the hall. He seem to have lots of information he didn't want anyone knowing about, especially the massacre of his family which he obviously didn't mean to tell, and why did Rias resurrect him, for power?

Issei had power that she failed to obtain, but the knowledge Akeno had about the Gremory's was they treated all their servants as equals, friends, or in Sirzechs case, lovers, as proven by having the maid of the Gremory house, Grayfia, be his Queen and wife.

Or maybe the next heir of the Gremory house took pity on him and felt he deserved a second chance at life. Everyone had a reason behind their actions and whatever reason Rias was Akeno hoped it was with good intent.

Susanoo, the god of the sea and storms, son of Izanagi, brother to Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, husband of Kushinadahime, and slayer of Yamata no Orochi had many shrines built about him and one was within Kuoh town that Akeno was on her way to visit. What she learned was that it had been built long before Kuoh came under Gremory control, when Kuoh was an all-girl school, and, before the building of the church.

'Hmmm. This town seem to have connections to Shintoism with all the shrines here.' She noted the three shrines within Kuoh. One being her house, the new one within the tiny bamboo forest, and the abandon one of Susanoo she was on her way to visit.

Five years before moving to Kuoh, the owner of that shrine passed away leaving it in the state it was now; abandon and unoccupied. The last time she was at the shrine was discovering Asumoto's religion. This time she would pay her respects to the god of sea and storms.

It didn't take long for the miko to reach the shrine, the route taken to it was easily memorized from her first journey to it. Exiting the suburbs, she reached the outskirts of town and approached the hill the shrine sat upon which overlooked the town. The raven haired beauty smiled as she inhaled the fresh air that blew through her ponytail before pausing to in her stride to taken in the beauty of the landscape. The view was incredible, half the town could be seen from here, which meant all of Kuoh could be seen from the very top.

The thought of staying to enjoy the scenery crossed Akeno's mind. Agree to herself on the decision, she continued up to the shrine and reached it at last.

Only to fine that it was already occupied.

"Asumoto?"

Kneeling before the shrine, holding prayer beads, and donning a crimson kimono was Asumoto who froze upon hearing his name being addressed, the look she saw the Samurai give glancing over his shoulder was unreadable. She couldn't tell what he was thinking but he clearly was surprised to see she was here by his expression.

"Akeno…" He mumbled rising to his feet. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be here." He quickly walked past preparing to depart but was stopped by the miko holding his sleeve, her expression was one of sincere, the light of the sun reflecting off her eyes only added to her beautiful face.

"So, does this mean that you're a Shinto?" Akeno asked, already knowing he was one but pretending not to.

Asumoto looked at the priestess before sighing in defeat, there was no point in hiding it from her. "Yes. I follow the law of Shintoism, or try to. Since I'm a Devil, churches and shrines are forbidden to me and praying hurts. Every time I come to a shrine and try to pray to the Gods but my only answer is pain." His tone was one of defeat, which he didn't want Akeno to witnesses, especially after his outburst from early today at lunch. The silver eyed swordsman had not planned to have her know, not let at least, but it was too late now. "Akeno…did you follow me to one of my praying's?"

"I did." Akeno admitted, "I only was curious as to why you were alone and wearing the garments of a Shinto follower. I saw you attempting to pray. I'm sorry for doing so." She bowed to show her apologize meant well.

"It's alright," Asumoto replied with another sigh, "We all have secrets we wish to hide but will eventually be revealed sooner or later…"

Memories of old flooded the hybrids mind at Asumoto's words but put them aside to focus on Asumoto, "Asu-kun, if you want me to pray for you, I can. Think of it as an apology for early."

So he was right, Iwamatsu's niece followed him and saw the whole thing. It must have been the night when Rias tried to offer the priestess to join her peerage. A twinge of anger rushed through him but faded quickly at her offer to send the gods his prayers. The offer was generis and couldn't truly stay mad at her, she had been very kind to him during the times they spent together and he had to admit was very beautiful.

"Yes, I'd like that. Thank you, Akeno-san."

Asumoto stepped aside to allow Akeno access to the shrine while handing her the prayer beads too. Seeing no basin to purify her hands with the young shrine maiden simply bowed twice, clapped her hands twice, and then bowed again before praying.

All while this was happening, Asumoto watched, a twinge of joy filling him that the girl was sending his prayers to the Gods he so desperately needed to speak to. He wanted them to know the pain and regret he felt for what happened all those years ago.

He could remember it like it was yesterday. The smell of death filled his nostrils while the sound of battle echo all around, as the fires burned flesh and wood, while smoke billowed into the night sky.

The cross…

His father…

"Run son!"

The samurai was silent until Akeno finished praying. "I hope the gods here you're prayers since you're not a Devil. Again thank you, Akeno-san." He bowed to the miko.

"It's the least I can do for a fellow Shinto." Akeno replied with a tiny smile, "Asumoto, I'm not a simpleton, you obviously once were human. What happened to you?"

The handsome brunette was silent, unable to find the words to say to Akeno, as a light breeze brushed through passed them swaying the trees branches back and forth.

"Asumoto?"

He blinked twice before looking Akeno, concern on her face. "Sorry about that. Zoned out, what were you saying?" He apologized while rubbing the back of his head.

"I asked what happened to you. You were once human, so…were you reincarnated as a servant to Rias?"

He pressed his lips together before answering the girl,

"…Yes…Rias reincarnated me as her Queen. She turned me into her first servant."

"Do you know why she did it? Do you remember why?"

"Of course I do!" The brunette angrily said, unaware that he raise his voice. "She desires power like all Devils. She's selfish, greedy, arrogant, and prideful."

"Aren't you being a little biased about her? Devils are greedy and selfish but the Gremory family treats there servants with kindness. Whatever reason Rias had was probably with good intentions."

The Samurai didn't approve the ravenette's defending of his master, but let it slide since she hadn't known Rias for five years to see her kindnesses was just a ruse to hide how big of a smug, arrogant, and prideful bitch she really was. While he didn't get along well with Rias, he didn't hate her, merely dislike her for turning him into his servant without asking and acting the way she dose. If he hated Rias he'd have killed her the moment he learned he became her servant, which would have led to his death since she was the younger sister to the strongest Satan. Maybe someday Akeno would see the real side of Rias and agree with the Samurai.

"Think whatever you wish, Asumoto, but I still believe Rias wanted to save you." A long silence fell between the two as they looked out atop the hill. It truly was a beautiful view to witnesses, Iwamatsu would love this area she was sure of it. Speaking of her uncle, the next time he was in town she would make sure he met Asumoto, he clearly had to have known something about him, he wouldn't act the way he did unless it was something important, which this was. His knowledge of the supernatural world was vast and somewhere within that memory of his laid the answers she needed to Asumoto.

"If I remember, Rias said Iwamatsu Hayashi was related to the Himejima clan no?"

Hearing the question asked by the Samurai the ravenette nodded, "That's right. My cousin, Suzuki, is the current clan head of the Himejima's. She has helped mend the few my great-uncle created between the clans."

"Which leads to my next question about you Akeno; which clan did you hail from, Hayashi or Himejima?"

Another pause fell between the two and then, "I lived with my parents at the Himejima's until my mother passed away and my father abandoned me leaving me with just my relatives who wanted nothing to do with me, saying I was…getting in the way of clan businesses so uncle Iwamatsu took me in and raise me at the Hayashi clan. At that time Suzuki and I were still children."

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that. At least you have relatives to take care of you." He paused for a moment before continuing, "So, you're full name would be Hayashi Himejima Akeno.

"But what about you? Asumoto is your name but what about your family, do you hail from one of the five great Shinto clans?"

"To tell you the truth I've forgotten what my family name was." Asumoto said, his expression morphing into shame and sadness. "It's been so long I only remember my name being Asumoto."

Wow, first he lives without a mother, then loses his whole family before dying and becoming Rias servant, and forgetting his family name. Comparing her life to his, the former human's had it worse, losing his family and forgetting his last name was indeed much worse than having his mother murdered and father abandon her. She at least had a relative to come to her aid when she was in need of help, he had nothing but servitude to Rias Gremory.

But he did have something she didn't until now…

"You know, Asumoto, you're actually my first friend."

Asumoto raised a brow in question at the girl's words, "Oh?"

"I've been homeschool since middle school and even then I had no real friends. Everyone I knew was just an acquaintance until I met you. You, Rias, and the others all very kind but none have talked to me as much as you have." A tint of pink appeared on the girl's cheeks at her confession.

Asumoto blinked before an amusement of a smile crossed his lips, "I'm really you're first friend? I never expected Hayashi's niece to have no friends, I thought you'd be surrounded by them with how popular you are at Kuoh."

"Ara ara, Uhuhu. Is that you're way of saying I'm beautiful?" The beauty questioned with a wide smile.

"Maybe." The samurai replied with a smirk, "Would you like to join me for tea?"

Before the miko could answer the ringing of her phone was heard. Confused at who was calling her this late at night she pulled it from her pocket to see who the caller was. Her eyes widened when she read the name, she hadn't see this person in a long, long, time. Answering the call she put the phone to her ear mouthing 'I'm sorry' to Asumoto before speaking, "Tetsuishi-kun?"

"Akeno-chan!" A masculine voice said from the other end, "So good to hear your voice again! I've missed you so very much, Akeno-chan!"

Enter Tetsuishi Hayashi, Akeno's other cousin and Iwamatsu's son. Like his father, Tetsuishi was profound in swordsmanship and very caring and protective of Akeno. Some were suspecting Tetsuishi would be the next clan head after Iwamatsu, but to everyone's surprise, turned down the offer saying he wasn't worthy to be a leader.

"It's good to hear you as well, Tetsu-kun. How you been?"

"I'm fine, just got back home two days ago. Father said you moved to Kuoh and that it's under Gremory and Sitri territory, they aren't causing you trouble are they?" There was an edge of anger in his tone.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, their very friendly. Geez, you're more protective than uncle."

"I can't help it. My little cousin is important to me!" Iwamatsu's son replied passionately, "Anyway, uncle's busy with clan stuff. So I'm coming to Kuoh for him. This will be so exciting, I get to see my little Itoko again."

Violet eyes widened briefly at the word her uncle's son said, this was quite a surprise but a good one. The last time she saw Tetsuishi was two weeks before going to Kuoh, he said he had some friends to help in Europe. It would be so good to see him again.

While the busty miko spoke to her uncle's son, Asumoto stared at girl taking in every detail of her face, particularly her smile. He'd seen her smile before but he always saw something hidden behind it, this one showed genuine kindnesses. 'She sure has a pretty smile.' He thought.

"I know, it'll be so good to see you again….Of course….see you soon, love you too!" Akeno ended the call and turn to face Asumoto, "Well it seems my cousin, Tetsuishi Hayashi, is coming to Kuoh tomorrow. I'm terribly sorry Asumoto, but I must go and prepare for his arrival."

"It's fine. It's fine. No worries, there's always another time." The Devil replied with a wave of his hand while his mind filled with curiosity at the mentioning of Akeno's cousin which he, along with Rias, had no knowledge about. The fact that Iwamatsu had a son was something he had to tell Rias about. "I shall see you later, Akeno. Oh and thank you for praying for me." He added with a smile to which the priestess returned with one of her own before the Samurai summoned a teleportation circle and was whisked away to home.

"Well this is a surprise, you don't have a scowl on your face today." Asumoto's eyes flickered to Kuroka while stepping out of the magic circle, staring at her big golden orbs that stared back in the darkness. "Does that mean you finally were able to pray to your gods?"

"It was not me who did so, but Akeno Hayashi." The Devil replied which caused quite a reaction from the Nekomata. "Yeah, turns out she followed me to one of my prayers and just today told me about it. She felt bad for not doing so sooner so to apologize for it she prayed for me. Iwamatsu's niece is quite the nice girl."

"So what will you do now that the cats out of the bag?" Kuroka asked purring in content when the male starting petting her head gently.

"Nothing. Besides I doubt she'll tell anyone about my secret, or at least I hope so. I don't want Rias or the others to know about it."

"Why not? I've seen how Gremory treats my sister meaning she won't judge you for your heritage, Nya."

"….Then I'll think about." The male said quickly, "I don't feel comfortable telling them yet."

"Well, I'm sure they'll be fine with it." Kuroka reassured, "You know I discovered something quite surprising today. I saw that boy, Issei, walking with those Fallen Angels. Which makes me wonder why you had me sniff the boys scent if Gremory failed to obtain one of the Heavenly Dragons? Nya"

"Because she's a fool, Kuroka. She thought the Fallen Angels were going to kill Issei and she would revive him, forcing him to become her servant without a choice."

"And that is why I broke free of my servitude to my master. These Devils turn people into their servants without any consent. You're a prime example of that happening, instead of letting you die, Lucifer's sister reincarnates you as her Queen for reasons you still won't tell me about. Which makes me wonder why haven't you gone Stray like me?"

"Because I'd like to not get hunted and exterminated." Asumoto replied as he flopped onto the bed, "Unlike you, I'm not a Nekomata who can use Senjutsu to conceal myself from the enemy."

"Hmm fair point." Kuroka leaned closer her lips inches away from his ear, "I also know that you're a terrible liar, Asu-kun, how did the Fallen Angels really get Issei?"

Damn. Senjutsu had that natural ability to know when people were lying. Seeing no harm in it Asumoto answered, "Because, Rias doesn't need a foolish pervert like him in her servitude. So, being the sneaky Devil's she turned me into, I told the Fallen Angel's about it and boom, Issei is part of Grigori."

Kuroka bellowed with laugher, clutching her sides to try and suppress but was failing miserably. "Nyahahaha! You-You actually sabotaged Rias Gremory's plan to get one of the Heavenly Dragon's!? Hahaha! T-that's too funny!"

"And the only way she'll find out is through the Fallen Angels since I won't say anything."

"Well hopefully she won't blast you to nothingness when she finds out she didn't get him first."

"It's her own fault for how she planned to obtain him. Sona, on the other hand, would have offered him to join which I respect her for."

"I'd prefer you stay in the same group as my sister to make sure she's safe."

Asumoto's brow furrowed as he rounded on the young woman, "You know, you wouldn't be in this situation had you not done what you did."

"I had no choice!" Kuroka hissed as she glared at the Devil. "That bastard I called 'master' cared for nothing but power! He wanted to use my Shirone, my sister, as an experiment for Senjutsu power! So I did the right thing by killing him!"

"And look at the consequence that happened from it; you became a criminal because you protected your sister who by the way, you left behind, traumatized, and blamed for your actions which resulted in her nearly being executed." The shock Kuroka showed was proof enough that she wasn't aware of this. "You're lucky Sirzechs Lucifer saved her. If you see him or Rias you should thank them for taking your sister into their family. Speaking of which, if you cared for Koneko so much, why did you leave her behind? You told me you surpassed your master in power, so why didn't you take your sister with you after killing him? That way you'd have stay together and explain why you did what you did to protect her. Or you could have taken this to the Satan's and told them how you were being treated. Then perhaps one of them could have taken you both in and you'd be living better lives as Devil's under the service of Leviathan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, or Asmodeus."

Kuroka stared at the Samurai. She trusted the Devil's words but everything he just said, was that true? Had her actions caused this much trouble? She didn't want to leave her sister behind, she wanted to grab her and get out before the guards came, instead her little sister just stood there with a horrified expression at seeing what Kuroka just committed before running the other way. Kuroka wanted to go after but guards had arrived and tried to detain her.

After escaping the Underworld, she lost all contact with Shirone, she expected her to be living a better life after what happened, but now hearing she was blamed for her actions and sentenced to death for it, Kuroka felt a feeling she hadn't thought was possible to feel for her.

Regret.

Regret for not being fast enough to get her sister back and causing trouble that Shirone never should have been blamed for.

Looking back on that situation maybe killing her master wasn't a smart decision. She should have taken this issue to the Satan's and maybe, just maybe, they could have helped the sisters find a better master for them to serve.

"Do you see now the error of your ways, Kuroka? Do you believe now things may have been better had you taken the nonviolent route?"

The black haired beauty turned away with a huff trying hard not be weak in front of him. Asumoto was right, she could have done something different but what's done is done. The past couldn't be change, only the future could with the hope of mending the relationship with Shirone. Transforming into her cat form, the Nekomata released a yawn and laid on the handsome boy's chest purring in delight at the warmth that rolled off it. "Now that your home, I can finally sleep with my cuddle buddy, nyaa"

"Cuddle buddy?" Asumoto asked, but his words weren't heard by the sleeping Senjutsu user. He rolled his eyes before closing them to sleep, thinking, hoping, praying, that Akeno Hayashi wouldn't tell a soul about his relations to Shintoism.