AN: Yo.

...

Well anyway, this chapter is one I've been waiting on for weeks. Basically since I got it written. And yeah, I guess all of my chapters are like that, but this one especially!

I dunno what it is, whether I secretly really dislike Kado or something, but it was just so fun to write this chapter, which is the interlude chapter! (Also a section from Kado in there.) I tried to give each interlude a different feel from the rest, something to match the POV character, and hopefully that carried across well enough. I don't think there's any warnings or anything for this chapter, so I'll quit wasting your time and let you go ahead and get to reading.

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: If the author of Highschool DxD, who is not me, ever saw this, I'm pretty sure he would recoil in abject horror at the monstrosity I have created. I would also give him kudos on his English.

It was beautiful.

I could "feel" myself like nothing before, each inch of my false skin, each "beat" of my heart like a symphony that thrummed through each bone and muscle, never repeating. It made everything else feel so… empty.

Looking around, I was surrounded by a bright red that made me think of blood or Rias' hair. That was actually a rather unfortunate hair color to have, wasn't it? "Your hair looks like blood!" probably doesn't go over too well…

Regardless, I seemed to be inside a featureless sphere the size of a small room. Even though each surface was perfectly smooth and curved, I had no problem "standing" on any surface including the ceiling of the sphere. Not that it really had one since it was perfectly round, but I called it the ceiling, so that made it the ceiling by default.

It felt like it would be tainting the pure perfection by touching it, even if my body wasn't actually real, so I just hovered in what I could somehow tell was the exact center of the sphere.

And what only seemed to add to the wonder of the scene was the ribbons of light that flickered across the inner surface like a flowing stream. I have no idea where I am, but this is seriously cool. It was kinda odd how I didn't seem to feel any desire to leave though.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

Seated on the edge of a rooftop, the Exorcist gazed down at the scene below, an open bible laying ignored in his lap. "For this is the duty of god's watchmen."

The young devil limping into the square, ignoring the pain of holy light and a hole in his ankle to keep moving. The Exorcist created the ghost of a smirk that flickered across his face for a moment. "To guide the lost sheep."

The boy paused as his friend was stabbed, a look of horror on his face. Then he put on a fake smile and stepped forward, taunting the fallen angel that was the Exorcist's employer. "To free them from their lies."

He hastened forward to stand by his friend, subtly putting his body in front of him. No, the boy didn't even realize he was doing it, complete instinct. Admirable, even if it was stupid. "To lead them from their faults."

Then the boy said something to make Raynare actually step back, a look of terror thinly disguised on her face. What could the boy have said to cause that? Whatever it was, it was the wrong move. The kid had been telling the truth when he said he wasn't powerful, even that he'd only been a devil for four days. The kid certainly had guts, that was for certain.

But that wouldn't help him here. Raynare only had one way of responding to fear, like a trained dog. She would hurt it, prove that she was superior to the feeling, superior to everything. And a powerless devil was an all too easy target. "To shield them from the darkness."

Raynare was on him in an instant, spear manifested and already plunging into his vulnerable stomach. The boy didn't even react before it was too late. He'd have to work on that, if he survived. People lived and died on their reflexes in this world. "To teach them to know thy doctrine."

The other boy, his devil friend, tried to attack, a Twice Critical appearing on his arm, but he was ruthlessly tossed away, impacting his head on a tree harshly. He didn't get back up. After a command from the fallen angel, the young nun began to heal the victim, repairing the wound in his stomach. "To bind up their wounds."

The exorcist watched dispassionately as the boy was repeatedly impaled in more and more creative ways, each spear a new attempt at causing his spirit to break, to cause as much pain as possible. But her attempt seemed doomed to failure, each attack becoming more frenzied, clearly not reaching the result she desired.

"To comfort them in their sorrows." The blonde girl, weeping as she sealed skin, set bone, reconnected muscle, using her own energy to do so time after time.

"To protect them at all costs." The boy lying on the cobblestones, enduring the pain without releasing a single scream.

"To stand firm in thy path." The woman stabbing the devil, taking glee in how he twitched or tensed up in reaction to her vicious attacks.

"And to stand as a witness for thee at all times." The Exorcist, sitting at the top of a building, an altered bible in his lap. Entire pages scrubbed free of ink visible as the wind turned the pages, the few sections of black text standing out in stark contrast.

"For this is the duty that we have chosen." A red flash as the remainder of the peerage arrived, the knight leaping forward with a manifested sword to block the blow that would have ended the young devil's life.

"Personal addendum A." Raynare backed off with a wordless scream, enveloping the twilight healing child with her wings as she vanished, a teleportation spell the Exorcist had prepared earlier being activated.

"For this is the duty that I have chosen." The Exorcist pocketed the bible before standing up and dusting off his long coat, uncaring of the hundred foot drop mere inches away. Below him the devils gathered around their fallen member, the worry too clear on their faces.

"To watch the watchmen." Then he stepped away from the edge and walked over to the circle that he had prepared an hour previously, scrubbing at the edges with his foot until the chalk was blurred. One good downpour would clear away any evidence to the supernaturally unaware and it didn't matter if the devils found it.

The Exorcist spoke into the empty air, his voice barely carrying past his ears. "You are very lucky you did not manage to kill the boy, Raynare.

"If you had, I would have needed to kill you."

Then he shrugged, a flicker of a smile crossing his face again. "Ah heaven, I might anyway. I suppose I've taken a liking to the kid."

"Amen." And as the Exorcist spoke the final word, he heard a chorus of voices chiming it with him, just like they always did.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

The ribbons of light were in every color I could imagine, and some that I couldn't. Black, blue, green, purple, white, and one that my new senses "said" was Elmarill, just to name a few. Whatever the heck Elmarill was.

Huh. Apparently it was a hug in the rain, a crushed rose, a closed door with chipped paint, a long night alone and hungry, a smile while crying, an invisible scar that never healed. That was actually pretty heartbreaking, for some reason.

The ribbons ran around the sphere in loops, spirals, linear lines, and at least one was spelling out something in a different language.

They ranged all around the sphere and left no area untouched, except for one small patch that I could "detect" that they avoided. It was always directly in front of me no matter where I "looked," a section of the sphere that bulged inward, a depression.

I couldn't tell how large or small it was, since each time I tried to estimate the dimensions, it shifted and blurred it's edges, eating up half the sphere or shrinking into the size of a buttonhole.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

The church that we were using as a base was run-down, the pews dusty and stained by rain, but the statues and crosses so carefully chiseled years before still stood upright and strong, giving a sense of peace and mercy.

I hated them.

I would have already melted the bunch of them into puddles of molten peace and kicked it around for fun, but the mercenary exorcist that Raynare had recruited had insisted that we keep them pristine.

What was the point of being a stray exorcist if you still believed in god and the church! I'd thought he was joking around at first, but had gotten a gun barrel shoved up my throat the moment I produced a light spear. Who the Sandalphon does that anyway! And then the uppity priest had dared to say that he'd pull the trigger the next time I tried!'

Oh how I dreamed about ripping him apart and showing him just who he had been messing with. Only after I'd paid him back for everything he'd said of course, starting from his toes and working up-

"Uh-oh~, you're doing it again, Don."

A teasing voice trilled out from behind me and I snapped to attention, old habits still not quite dead. "Sorry Ma'am!" I cursed myself even as it let slip. She'd told me she hated it when I called her that.

Kalwarner waved it off with a roll of her eyes, walking up and lightly chopping me on the head with a hand. "Relax, Don. I keep telling you I'm not your sergeant anymore."

I bit my tongue to swallow the instinctive "Yes Sarge," that almost slipped free. "Aha, right, Kala. Guess that you just pulled too many surprise inspections. I've probably got PTSD from some of those times you came busting in screaming like Uriel himself was on your heels."

Kala plopped herself into one of the pews and affixed me with a glare. "That doesn't mean you get to call me 'Kala' either, ya ingrate. My parents gave me a ten-letter name and I'm proud of it."

Way to blow it, idiot! "Ah, sorry, Kalawarner." I sheepishly rubbed my arm and let part of my mind wonder how it was that even informal, she still seemed so… commanding. "You do abbreviate my name though, so I figured it was only fair." Don't counter her, you idiot, just agree! "Sorry, won't happen again."

She shot me another one of her famous glares. "Man, you sure are apologizing a lot. Whatever happened to ol' Dry-Death-Dohnaseek? And I call you Don 'cause then it makes you sound like one of them gangsters." She made a finger gun and pointed it at the wall with one eye closed. "You know, one of them cool and suave types that leave horse heads in people's beds."

I'd heard her reasoning before, it was why I got the fedora and cravat after all, but I still let out a snot of laughter at her comparison and plopped down next to her, shoving her over slightly to make room. "A horse head? What's up with that? Man, people were weird back then."

Kalawarner lightly shoved me back and smiled in that way she did. "Yeah, but that's what made them so good, ya know?" She let her head fall back and loosed a deep sigh. "Man, I wish it was back like then. Plenty of excitement, entertainment, and no kids head-down in their smartbooks." She had a soft spot for kids, for some reason. I didn't get it, but it was part of what made her Kala.

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "They're called smartphones, Kalawarner. Aren't you supposed to be the infiltration expert here?"

She blinked twice before answering. "Enough about me, we were talking about you. You were doing that thing again when I came in, the thing where you glare at an inanimate object and tip your hat down to cover your eyes. You only do that when you're thinking about killing someone."

Did I do that? "Do I do that?"

"Yes, you have for the last hundred years, last I checked, now fess up." She leaned in slightly closer, making my breath hitch. Slow down, girl, this is hard enough as it is! "So who is it and do you need my help?"

"Erm, what?" I yanked my attention back up and processed what she had just said. "Ah no, sorry. Still a little upset about the statues." Idiotidiotidiotidiot-did she notice?

She leaned back again and hummed slightly before nodding. "Ah, so it was the exorcist guy then. Mr. Morgan?" Was that his name? I'd missed his name the first time and had just been calling him "dead meat" in my head.

"Uh yeah, that guy." I scratched my cheek and looked away. Then my head whipped back around. "Wait, how did you know it was him? All I said was statues."

Kalawarner gave me an unamused look. "Last I remembered, you weren't the type to forgive people who stuck a gun in your mouth. Didn't the last guy to do that end up in forty pieces?"

I couldn't help but snicker at the thought, thinking back. "Yeah, and I've still got the gun too. It's got my teeth marks in it and everything."

Kalawarner elbowed me in the side and when I looked at her she was grinning again. Man I'd missed it while she wasn't smiling. "See, this is more normal. Just two war pals sitting down and talking about the good old days."

I was suddenly hyper-conscious of how close we were sitting and cleared my throat to buy some time. "Yeah, I guess it is nice. To just relax like this, I mean. It's not bad when it's just the two of us." Come on man, this is your chance! It's do or die and you don't know the meaning of the latter! "So umm, would you want to-"

The door at the back of the room burst open and a short blonde-haired girl in a black dress with far too many frills stomped in, ranting at anything and anyone within earshot. "-should have been back ages ago! So we're just sitting around while she goes off and gets food or clothes or people because she's the leader and so we get to sit back and guard a base nobody even knows exists!"

She paused for breath and then tilted her head to the side in a curious manner that reminded me of a cat. "Seek-chan, why are you banging your head against the pew like that? You're denting the wood, you know."

"Just testing the construction quality," I growled out. Yes, Mittelt was just like a cat. Constantly complaining, spoiled, intruding on your free time, and shredding things! With one final pound I let my head fall down into the crater of splintered wood I had created with a groan. And now I had a headache. Just… perfect.

So naturally that was the time that a foreign magic began to collect in the middle of the room. In a moment my wings were manifested and I was propelling myself into a backflip that would land me right on top of whoever the intruder was.

So maybe I was trying to impress Kala just a bit. But that was secondary, really. Really!

Then the spell finalized and Raynare dropped into existence a few inches before the tip of my light spear, wings folded oddly around her. I hurriedly dispelled the weapon, but couldn't stop my downward momentum. My fist landed a solid blow on Raynare's wing just before my wings stopped my reckless advance with a powerful flap.

Oh Raphael she was gonna kill me. I immediately flew backwards and took a defensive posture, or as Kala would call it, bomb-shelter-position, and prepared for impact.

I waited for the inevitable, but nothing seemed to happen, so I unrolled from my defensive posture and looked down. Kalawarner was giving me a look of both pity and hidden laughter from the pew while Mittelt was making no sign of trying to hide her excitement at the apparent beating I was about to receive.

Raynare though, was simply holding in place. After a moment she began to shudder, wings unfolding to show the fallen angel grasping the runaway nun at the shoulders, fingers digging in cruelly. Worst of all was her expression, smile too wide and eyes slightly rolled back into her head. What the Samael had happened while she was gone?

The others were looking just as confused as I was. Kalawarner hefted herself off the pew and said, "Hey, Ray, glad you made it back. Did, uh, anything happen? Like an asteroid falling or something landing in your hair?"

She was ignored too as the leader's face changed. Her lips curved down, her eyes refocused forward, and her fingers loosened to a more normal grip on the young girl. "You saw it, right?" She asked the nun, sounding normal again. Maybe she was over whatever it was now?

She repeated the question again. "You did see it, didn't you? He lost, right? He broke, didn't he?" Then she said in a quieter voice, "I'm right, aren't I?"

I couldn't see the small nun's face, but I heard a spitting sound and saw something wet land on Raynare's cheek. Did the cute little innocent girl really just do that?

"He never stopped, you hag. He never stopped." Asia's voice was thick with tears and bottled up emotion, but she spoke with a venom I didn't know was possible. Imposter alert, imposter alert!

Raynare's head wobbled before falling limply onto her left shoulder, the patch of saliva beginning to drip. "He didn't, did he," she said, almost absently. Her fingers slowly uncurled from the young girl, one at a time before her arms dropped to her sides.

Her head tilted back until it was gazing up at me with a vacant gaze. "…You, take care of the girl." Oi, I have a name you know. I gave a nod of assent though, floating down to gently put a firm hand on the nun's shoulder.

Kalawarner was more concerned with our leader though. That was just like her. "And… Raynare? What will you be doing?" She sidled over and tried to grab our leader's hand, but her outstretched arm was viciously batted away before it got close.

"Don't touch me!" Raynare shrieked, eyes going wide as a light spear appeared in her hand, ready to throw. …What the Metatron was happening!

The offending hand was raised as a sign of surrender, Kala backpedaling. "Woah, woah, Ray! Calm down! Look, I won't touch you if you don't want me to, okay? Just let us know what's up or something, will ya?"

Mittelt's annoying voice came through the hubbub, chanting "fight, fight, fight," like a mantra while looking on with wide eyes. Seriously, what was wrong with that girl? Raynare's eyes slowly returned to normal and she dismissed the light spear with a faint gasp. "Nono, sorry. Sorry."

Then she unfurled her wings and took off towards the altar at the back of the room, diving into the revealed secret passage without another word. Mittelt wandered away, complaining about being hungry and upset about there not being a fight after all. Just like I said, exactly like a cat.

While I was distracted, Asia shrugged my hand off her shoulder. I reached out to grab her again, but paused as the girl made no move to run away. Instead, she simply wandered over to the nearest pew and sat down onto it, head tilted back to look at the ornate stained glass windows in the chapel.

Kalawarner and I exchanged helpless glances, the most we could do right then. Our runaway nun was depressed, and Raynare was either crazy or really hungry. The situation was already strained, and this wouldn't help anything.

I breathed out a sigh and turned to go into my own quarters. Whatever mood I had going with Kala was gone in the wake of whatever had swept through here. I just needed to hold out until tonight though, just until after the ritual. Then I could leave with Kala, and be free of Raynare, treason, and devils for a long, long time.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

Giving up on trying to discover the size, I instead focused on the properties. All the ribbons of light avoided it, disrupting their patterns to flee in a random direction or breaking their randomness to veer away in a straight line.

There was more to it than that though. Consumed by my curiosity, I reached out to touch it, only to stop precisely three-point-two-five millimeters from it. My breath caught as the depression swelled outwards, as if trying to close that final contact. From this close range I could feel a vague aura it was giving out. It tastedfeltwas wrongerrordanger and I quickly yanked back my hand.

I stared at it in a kind of twisted fascination even as it returned to it's previous placid state, although it looked to be pulsing slightly. This wasn't a hollow, or a defect, or a bulge.

It was a ǝloH.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

My eyes flew open and I heaved in a deep breath, eyes seeing nothing for a moment, overshadowed by the ghost of purple hatred before I blinked and it was gone. It felt so good that I took a few more breaths, luxuriating in the feeling of air filling my whole lungs before leaving my mouth again. My memories began filtering back as I just continued to breath until the body's automated respiratory system took over again and I could relax somewhat.

Blinking until my eyes were in focus, I was looking up at Koneko, Kiba, Rias, and Akeno who were once again gazing down at my prone form.

"Huh, your hair looks like blood," I mused while gazing upwards. Don't know where that thought came from, but it was worth it to see Rias get an offended look on her face while the others snickered.

I could feel rough wood beneath me, so I was probably on a bench instead of still lying on the ground. Man, these guys were so considerate. It kinda seemed like someone was missing though…

I forced myself up into a sitting position. "Is Issei okay? What about-" My right arm spasmed uncontrollably and I collapsed back down, whacking the back of my head on the bench.

"Kai-san!" Oh good, that was Issei. So he probably was doing okay. He wasn't dead at least, and hopefully less injured than me.

"Careful there."

"Idiot."

"Please relax, Kai-san."

Ignoring their pleas, I tried to push myself up again. I couldn't always keep them worrying about me, and I wasn't really hurt. The green glow- Asia. Asia had healed me through the entire thing, so I wasn't even injured. That really was a cool power, though.

Suddenly Akeno's hands were on my shoulders, irresistibly pushing me back down to my prone position. "Our masochistic kohai shouldn't be so quick to move around yet. Just let your senpais take care of you, Ka-chan." That sounded far too much like "mother" for my liking, but I wasn't willing to argue the name right then.

Well it wasn't like I had a choice. She didn't let up either, keeping her hands pressing down on me. For how soft they were, she was still a devil and they had enough strength to stop a truck. "I'm not a masochist!" I protested. "I was trying to bluff this time and chase her away, not taunt her and make her attack me."

"And that's how you ended up calling a fallen angel, the race most proud of their beauty, ugly?" Akeno's bland tone made me wince as I finally stopped trying to sit back up.

"It just slipped out," I mumbled, craning my neck back to try and look at her face. Unfortunately, her chest was big enough and rather… overhanging, so I couldn't even catch a glimpse of her expression. "And what's a fallen angel? I've heard of devils and angels, but not these fallen guys."

My abdominal muscles suddenly cramped and I tried to jerk forward, but Akeno seemed to take it as another escape attempt and just pushed down harder, halting any progress. Luckily the pain faded just a moment later. Maybe I still had some aftereffects from being stabbed so many times?

"Well, they're basically what they sound like, angels that have committed a sin and fallen from grace." Akeno explained, leaning down closer to me. I quickly riveted my gaze on the back of the wooden bench. Those things were dangerous!

"They tend to be prideful, even more so than devils, and see all other races as beneath them. They see themselves as pure and despise anything that isn't." The black haired devil went on, an odd tone in her voice. I almost glanced up to try and get a look at her face, but caught myself when I remembered just what was in the way.

Rias took over instead, picking up on whatever showed on Akeno's face that I couldn't. "So calling her ugly was probably the worst thing you could have done." Yeah, I was guess that was a bit more severe than the usual female rage, huh.

"Idiot," Koneko interjected. That made two words since I'd woken up. Actually, did it count if they were the same word?

"Yeah, well turns out that I have no mouth filter when I'm in pain." I casually said, trying to focus on keeping my left leg from jerking up in a spasm through force of will. I was mostly successful, but I think the twitch might still have been noticed.

Akeno's hands pushed down a little harder, digging into my shoulders. "And why exactly were you in pain before fighting the fallen angel?" Rias asked, a sweet tone hiding her anger. Luckily, I had enough experience to tell that she was seriously upset.

As if! That's not lucky at all! I quailed beneath that smile and tried to look to someone else for salvation. Kiba just looked interested and Koneko had a small smirk lifting up the corner of her mouth. Traitors!

Where was Issei when I needed him? I spotted him a short distance behind Kiba, staring down at his left arm, clenching and unclenching his fist. Was he blaming himself for Asia being taken? He'd been quiet this entire time, too. I'd just opened my mouth to call out to him when my cheeks were grabbed and pulled towards Rias' smiling face.

"Ah, please do not ignore me when I'm asking you about how exactly you got hurt, Kai-san." Her smile grew bigger and her grip tighter. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt, after all." I could hear the queen's laughter from above me even as I rapidly nodded my head in hopes that my interrogator would let me go.

"Isn't that a bit much, Buchou?" Kiba distantly pleaded. Koneko immediately elbowed him in the ribs and gestured for him to shush. I gave her the stink eye, which did absolutely nothing to her stoic visage. I knew someone I wasn't giving Christmas gifts to.

She did release me and I reached up to rub the soreness out of my cheeks, ignoring another small arm spasm. They'd go away in time, so there was no point in dwelling on them. "Fine, fine, Gremory-san. Asia healed me anyway. I just ran into an exorcist a bit before, it's no big deal."

Obviously I was underplaying it, but that was as much for my pride as it was because of the injury and their unnecessary worry. I only had pride in a few things, but my ability to lie and tell what other people were thinking was one of them. That I had been so easily played stung, and I wasn't looking forward to regaling to tale to the rest of the peerage. Looking at Rias' cloudy face though, I probably wouldn't have a choice.

"So let me get this straight," she asked, still acting deceptively sweet. "You simply happen to bump into an exorcist, somehow escape him with an injury to some part of your body, then proceed to insult a fallen angel in a failed attempt to protect Issei?" Not that it had done much, and she still got away with Asia in the end.

"Well Issei's fine, so I wouldn't say it failed… It just… didn't work as well as we might have liked," I hedged.

She wasn't amused. "I am going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them immediately and truthfully, does that sound good?"

"Do I have a choice?"

I yelped as a flicker of lightning ran from Akeno's hands into my body. It didn't hurt, but gave me an unpleasant shock. "Wrong answer, Ka-chan," my new torturer giggled.

"First, where did you meet that exorcist?"

"Immediately through the exit gate from here."

Rias broke eye contact with me, looking to Kiba instead. "Yuuto, go check it."

He nodded once and was off, his speed making him look like nothing but a blur. Man that made me jealous. Why couldn't I break the laws of physics like that? The king grabbed my attention once again though. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't, he let me go." Well it was true, even if I doubt he actually expected me to go after Issei.

She raised an eyebrow. "Then how did you get injured?"

I internally winced as I answered. "He shot me with his light gun." That was what they were called, right? If they were actually called laser guns I was going to get annoyed.

"You were hit by holy light and came back in to fight another enemy?" Rias started muttering what I was pretty sure were some swears in the devil language beneath her breath. Sadly, I was a devil and could now understand said language. Suffice it to say that she was not impressed with my choice, or the apparent size of my brain.

After recovering, she continued. "Where were you shot?"

"In the ankle?" Okay that came out sounding more like a question than a response, but at this point I was slightly wary of how she would respond to this little nugget of information.

Rias started swearing again, following in quick succession by Akeno. Koneko was giving me what I suspected to be a measuring expression while Issei had a pained expression on his face. Rias broke out of it just long enough to ask "You at least crawled or something, right? You didn't walk on an ankle that had been infected by holy light? Please tell me you crawled."

"But that would have ruined the effect I was going for," I calmly explained. "I was trying to bluff, remember? I can't do that very well crawling."

The response was another round of swears. This was actually kind of fun, and I was learning new words! Who said education wasn't fun?

Akeno though had stopped swearing and was instead leaning down over me again. "So you walked the entire way on a destroyed ankle infected by holy light?"

"Yeah? I just said that didn't I?" It seemed like the more casual I was, the more they reacted, so I'll admit I was playing it up somewhat. It wasn't nearly as easy as I tried to make it sound.

"Oh, I think we are going to have a lot of fun together, M-kun…" Akeno purred as she sent another shock of electricity through my muscles, making one arm jerk suddenly.

"Hey cut that out! And don't call me that!" I tried to reach up and pull her off me, but she just leaned down further, almost smothering me now.

"Why don't you make me, M-kun…"

Rias interrupted our little argument with a well-timed cough. "To return to the matter at hand, do you know where the exorcist went?"

I stopped struggling and looked back at her. "Nah. He just walked past me, so I'd assume he's out of the mall at least, though he could have gone anywhere from there."

She hummed, thinking over my response. "That's unfortunate. Do you know what he looked like?"

I did my best to hold back another spasm as I thought back to the cold man's face. "Yeah, I think he had a thin face and blue eyes, long black hair in a ponytail. It could have been a disguise though." Not that he would need one. He could probably act like a grandmother in her eighties and people would believe him. Jerk.

No, I wasn't bitter. Why do you ask?

"I'll pass that on to Kiba when he gets back."

"So, are there any other questions or is that it," I asked, hoping to get out of this uncomfortable position. It was starting to hurt my back, pressed into the bench like this.

"Just one last one," Rias said. "What happened to Kioko. You two were together, right? Issei said you came back without her though."

That made my eyes go wide. "I. Am. Doomed." I said as matter-of-factly as I could.

"Huh, why is that?" asked Akeno.

"The exorcist had some kind of spell that compelled humans away from the area. Kioko was caught up in it, but from her perspective, I just ditched her while on a date and didn't come back for…" I quickly checked my watch. "Half an hour."

Akeno laughed again and finally released my shoulders. "Well we wouldn't want you to keep her waiting, would we?"

I gratefully rolled off the bench with a sigh of relief and landed in a crouch, standing up before my weak legs could buckle beneath me. I was just about to set off when Rias called out from behind me. "Hold on, Kado-san."

I turned, already trying to think of an excuse to tell Kioko. "Yeah, what is it?"

The devil looked at me with worry in her eyes. "I know that we were rather… heavy-handed with questioning you, but if you information that you hadn't shared with us, such as about a second exorcist running around, it could have put my peerage in danger. I am simply worried, you understand."

Ignoring the small slight of indirectly saying that I was not a part of said peerage, I gave a smile in response. "Yeah, I'm really bad at explaining things sometimes, it's fine."

She coughed again, apparently having one more thing to say. she looked slightly unsure, but carried on anyway. "I know that you're close with Horikawa-san and that she is already aware of the supernatural, but what are you going to tell her about the situation?" It wasn't like we'd been trying to be subtle, but I felt a sudden burst of possessiveness. I wouldn't let her get sucked into any kind of devil's bargain, no matter what.

Unless she actually wanted to, in which case I'd smartly step aside. "Well, I hadn't planned on telling her anything." She'd been under a spell at the time and would probably blame herself for not being there if she knew. I was fine now, there was no reason to get her all worried.

An expression partway between relief and confusion was on the red-head's face. "Huh, but? I mean, I'm glad, but why? I didn't think you were the type that would hide things like this from her."

I turned away from my king, an involuntary smile coming to my lips, "Rias? You have no idea what I would do to keep my people smiling." Then I took off running on still shaky legs. I had an idea of what could work, but I'd have to hurry if it was going to be believable.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

I offered a frown that was entirely real at my boyfriend as he ran up, even as it covered up the immense amounts of worry inside me. "Where were you, Kado-kun? Did you get lost at some point? And what's up with the new clothes?"

Indeed he was wearing a new outfit, a pair of jeans and a dark blue t-shirt with an undone blazer over the top. Bought to hide the cauterized holes in his uniform. He offered up a guileless smile and held up a blue plastic shopping bag.

"Sorry, I thought it might be nice to have some different clothes for a date instead of just our school uniforms. It took me a while to choose since I wasn't sure what you'd like." Liar, you picked the first good pair that you saw. I am flattered that you know me well enough to actually be accurate though.

"Well that is sweet, but why didn't you tell me? I would have helped you pick them." Because he was being tortured by a fallen angel and I couldn't do a thing. I offered a confused frown to hide the shifting turmoil inside.

The body-monitoring seal I'd placed on him had picked up everything from the state of his injuries to what he heard and saw, which included his plan to not tell me what he'd gone through. You have no idea what I would do to keep my people smiling. Oh~ I got the chills when he said that.

I was well aware of his faults, even if they only seemed to make him more perfect to me. I had watched him secretly blackmail a man into losing everything, then go up and offer the same person a hand and the number of a job agency with a smile. He was capable of more than he gave himself credit for, and far more than anyone else did. He knew no limits when it came to his heroic tendencies. I was the only one who could understand him.

I understood his reasons, even if he hadn't said them. He didn't want me to be worried, to think that every time that he went somewhere that he'd be attacked. And even if it was true, he wanted to keep me safe and happy. The idiot. As if I could be happy when he was getting attacked and losing his life. Even if it did make my heart pound each time I saw him protect someone like that.

In response to my question he beamed and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. Once. "Well I wanted it to be a surprise! I was feeling pretty outdone by Issei earlier, so I wanted to do something special before you try to ditch me for the better boyfriend."

I smiled at his obvious joke, but I could tell that he still had some underlying concern hidden in the question. He really didn't get it, did he? "As if that would ever happen." I linked my arm with his and reached for the bag he was holding, but he jerked it farther away, smiling in a way that made his warm eyes crinkle up. Twice.

"Nope, boyfriend privileges. I get to carry the bags until you need them. Wouldn't want you to strain anything with those thin arms of yours." I accepted his excuse and smiled back, thanking my lucky stars that I had found someone as great as him.

"Ha! You know these arms could lift more than you any day, nerd boy!" He recoiled back, faking hurt as his arm rubbed against mine slightly.

"Betrayal! How could you do this to me!" Betrayed, shot in the foot as he tried to escape, taunted, and then sent on to be tortured.

"Ahahaha, you thought I was on your side? You were wro-" my voice caught as Her demented voice shouted denials as she stabbed him over and over and over and- I cleared my throat and waved it off. "Ha, guess I can't even play the villain convincingly!"

He rolled his eyes, tucking his arm more firmly in my own as he loosely swung his other hand back and forth with the shopping bag still in it. "Nah, you'd be a great actor if you wanted to be. Pretty sure you could make Studio Ghibli if you wanted to go that route." Putting on a brave smile as he walked forward on half of an ankle and taunted someone who could kill him in an instant. And that was him trying to be careful.

"Nah, I'm not that good." I tried to change the subject, hoping to get onto something, anything, a little more normal. "Where should I go to change into these new clothes you picked out?" And did he really not expect me to notice that there was no sign of his uniform anywhere?

He rubbed his chin before looking surprised to feel the shopping bag bumping his chest. Three times. "Well I'd say a clothing store, but I'm not sure how they'd feel about you using their changing rooms to try on clothes you didn't buy there."

"Yeah, they probably wouldn't like that very much, huh…" I fell to musing as he did the same next to me, although we were assuredly considering different topics. Didn't he trust that I could help him? That I cared if he was hurt or not? How was he so okay with just swallowing his pain like this? Why?

"Huh?" Kado's eyes flickered up to mine and I realized I said the last word out loud.

"Ah, sorry. I was just wondering why you wanted to go out of your way to do something special like this? Issei and Asia already left, so our job is done, isn't it?" One kidnapped, the other currently being healed, according to his very close positioning with two other devils. Although you should be getting healing too, you overly-sensitive idiot.

Kado considered the answer for a bit, before shrugging and saying "Well things have been pretty crazy recently, so I wanted to do something special, something normal together." Killed twice, had a mental breakdown, and was tortured, all within ninety-six hours. That must be a record.

"I mean you're probably the same, right?" He went on. "A lot's happened recently, so I figured you'd want to know that something is still good. That we're still okay." His first words after waking up. "Is Issei okay?" Will it ever be about just "us?"

I considered that. Honestly things were new and different and strange, but I loved him. That hadn't changed. I glanced over, just to see him again, and saw a grimace flicker across his face just as the seal told me that he was withholding another spasm. Four times.

And he was doing it because he didn't want me to worry, he didn't want me to know his pain. He was trying to protect me, and instead it hurt that he couldn't admit that he needed help or someone to comfort him.

My boyfriend, taking the weight of the world onto himself and feeling the weight of every loss. I knew that he cried in his sleep at night, mourning for the two stray devils that had killed him and died in turn. That he mourned as easily as he breathed, and smiled as easily as he did both, lighting up my world.

Oh, how I wanted to See him truly, to take in all that he was and smother myself in it. But I knew I would go too far, too much. And really, shouldn't I be satisfied with being by his side and loving him?

But I wasn't satisfied.

Blinking, I realized that we had stopped. Kado was standing right in front of me, his concerned brown eyes looking deeply into my own as he reached up a hand to wipe away my tears. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Why are you… crying?

I shook my head and smiled to hide the pain, just like he did, gently grasping his hand to slide it off my face. "It's nothing, Kado-kun. I'm just so lucky to have a boyfriend like you."

I gently let go of his hand and reached for the shopping bag. He let me take it without resisting, too worried about me to care, but unsure of what to say. I bowed deeply, trying to hide his worry from my eyes. Idiot… I should be worried about you… "I'm sorry, Kado. But I think I have to go home now."

And then I turned and ran, eyes burning and the seal showing me exactly how his arm raised up after me and he opened his mouth before the arm shook and slowly lowered. His head dropped low, and his eyes turned dull as he blamed himself for nothing. Idiot, how could you do this to me? And how can I do this to you?

It hurt. It felt like there was ball of thorns in my chest that dug itself in deeper each time I thought of him. But it was nothing compared to his pain, staring defiant as his own body functions began to shut down and I screamed in fear.

I couldn't heal his pain, couldn't change the past. So I turned my pain into anger, into a fiery drive as I slowly angled my path to take me to where the Web had showed the grouping of black dots. "Fallen angels, huh?" I mused out loud, picking up speed as I channeled the street into me. "Wonder if fallen angels bleed…" They would, a thousand times more than he did.

End AN: Not gonna say much about the italicized sections, since either they're self-explanatory or chalk full of secrets. But you don't know which one it is, wooo~

The Exorcist section was pretty fun to work on, and for some reason I just fell in love with the idea of an exorcist who believes in God and the Bible, but has modified that belief. Dunno know why, but it hit me and I couldn't give it up.

The Dohnaseek interlude was a real pain for me at first. It started off as an Issei interlude, but that didn't work out, so I brainstormed for about a day on what it should be instead. I ended up settling on Dohnaseek as the character to focus on. Even that was tricky at first, but then I got the idea of giving him a crush on Kalawarner, and suddenly it all clicked together. It still feels like the Raynare at the end didn't quite fit, but it was better than the original version, in which she basically went insane and tried to go off on a crusade to kill Kado. So this is weird, but trust me, it could be worse.

About the "interrogation" after Kado woke up, I feel like it's at least plausible. Kado didn't want to admit he had been hurt or his weakness, but it was something that the others needed to be told about. The lightning is a small shock, not enough for any kind of long-term or even real short-term damage. And at that point, Kado was gonna spill the beans with or without it. Aah, it still seems messed up somehow when I look on it, but it all fits together in my head! *Pounds head on nearest hard surface.*

And the Kioko Interlude. Man I loved this one. There are a couple things I hinted at in previous chapters that lead back to this, such as Kioko knowing where Kado was at basically all times, and also a brief glimpse of what she can do. (Hint: Kioko gets an action scene in the next chapter and it is absolutely terrifying. I couldn't stop cackling for ten minutes after I was done writing.) Another thing I really wanted to show is how Kioko sees the relationship and Kado from her side of things. It probably doesn't match up with previous chapters as much as I would like, but I thought it was pretty good.

And a little side thing, if you caught the mention of Kado blackmailing a man into poverty before helping him, the man was a high-ranking official in a corrupt business with a guilty conscience. Kado basically gave him a new lease on life without his old ties. He's a lot poorer now, but a lot happier. I'll try to drop some other hints about what else Kado got up to before the devils came around in future chapters.

Hope you enjoyed, and see you next chapter!