Warning: I'm not pulling any punches with these, as they're SCRAP FILES. This is my raw, personal edits and not screened for much other than my own inner grammar nazi. You can expect just about anything, and I know there are a few scenes of mature and violent content. Some of it harsh. So, be warned.

Premise: Demons and devils. Such interesting plot devices, imagery, and potential. I personally have a very unhealthy fixation on the idea of succubae that started before I truly knew anything about them. This is not an outlet for that, however. That story, which likely will never see the light of day, is over 130k words and not even off the mainland.

However, Highschool DxD offers me a different venue to play with the infernal, as I am prone and tempted to do. I am a tidy monster, after all, and there is just something magnetic about such ideas. Unlike other chapters in this file, this may be promoted (heh heh!) to a full story at some point, but that would be after I gut the main DxD plot and rebuild it into something less of a trainwreck mashup of every damn religion available to bring some nuance from. Till then, however… a glance.

—

Unhallowed

I could smell the fetid breath of war stirring here.

Beneath the red hood that masked my features, through the blackened scarf around my face, I could scent the ozone stink and carrion rot of it on the still air, laying about the city. Breathing in deeply I threw my head back and let the familiar stench soak into my mind. I paused as two more things caught my attention. Old things. Familiar things. The first was faint, lacking strength, as if diluted or old… hot salt, char, the dull mustiness of feathers. The second… I breathed deep, ignoring the slight burn in my ribs from an old wound as I tasted the air. Dry, musky, reptilian stink.

Beneath the darkened scarf, a grin pulled itself across my face. "Think this is the place."

Walking into one of the dozen or so convenience stores that peppered cities like this one, I picked up a local map and a prepaid cell phone, dropping a handful of fifth-century Qinghai gold on the cashier's counter. I left the old man sputtering and biting one of the coins in shock, grabbing a bottle of tea and a handful of packaged sandwiches on the way out.

I chuckled darkly at the impulse. "Well, Pops," I toasted the setting sun with the bottle of tea, "some things never change. To you, old man. See you in hell someday." Tossing back a mouthful, I spat it on the concrete, dismissing thoughts of Jusenkyo Valley, the Musk Empire, and all the things and people I'd left buried in that cursed soil years ago. Too long, but still too recent.

Stuffing all but one of those sandwiches in the pockets of my leather jacket I checked my new map. "Little far from home," I murmured around food that tasted like ash. I'm not entirely sure where home was anymore, but this was definitely not Nerima. Picking out some of the local landmarks, I oriented myself, noting the places I'd likely need to visit sooner or later. Pawn shop. Moneychanger. The cathedral. Police station. The Academy. Biting the lid off a pen, I picked out a few likely locations, circling them messily while scanning the street for a phone booth. Old lessons I'd learned watching Pops whenever we got into a new place.

Fifteen minutes later I had a tentative list in my pocket alongside the last sandwich and the phone at my ear, badgering an old man for directions. The city subway system wasn't as good as I'd expected, so I changed my initial destination to the moneychanger's. Luck was on my side for once, and I made it in time despite the late hour. That quickly escalated, as the old man seemed to be a collector, as well as an assayer. It was a double-edged situation; I'd get more for the old coins I had, but it would take some time and haggling.

"These," he murmured over the palm-sized sack of coins I'd tossed down on the desk in the old man's private office, "Some of these have the mark of a Zhou dynasty cast, only seen in Qinghai, boy. Where on Earth did you get these?"

"Qinghai," I answered with a smile between bites of my last sandwich, getting a dirty scowl for my efforts. "Well? You asked."

The old man grumbled something under his breath but continued his inspection, now equipped with a jeweler's loop and a small set of delicate picks. "I can already tell some of these are gold issue meant for use in the courts and for trade. The circulation mint copper ones are in amazing condition as well. Oxidation is at a minimum, as if they were stored under oil, perhaps," he rambled on, as I kicked my feet up and folded my hands behind my head. This wasn't the first time I'd exchanged some of the souvenirs from my past, and I was well-used to the shock they'd bring. Considering the man's eyeglass was about to fall from his face, I knew 'shock' was perhaps too modest an assessment.

"I know their history," I offered finally, having given the man a few minutes to gather himself. "And I know their worth," I continued, getting a slight frown followed by a terse nod. Like most moneychangers, the man was a swindler at heart, but I didn't hold that against him. His kind kept my pockets lined, after all. That he gave off the air of someone who might run a pawn shop out of this back door, I counted myself lucky. People like this didn't like official documentation, except when it came with a profit, and I'd followed in Pop's footsteps in finding myself somewhat allergic to too much official attention.

"Indeed," the old man grunted, rubbing his thumb across one of the copper coins as he chewed a lip between uneven, yellowed teeth. Shortly, he'd separated the coins into sets; I noted with some amusement how the gold coins kept being moved slightly closer to him with each adjustment. "Indeed. Well, I can certainly pay you handsomely for these," he offered, indicating the copper coins. "These pretties however," a grizzled hand waved over the gold, "will take some time, if you want more than weight price."

I pulled down the scarf that hid my face, ignoring how the man's eyes widened to see me clearly, finally. "To business then."

In the end I walked back out with the bulk of my coins. All but one gold tally followed me out the door, that token left to keep the man's silence, as well as his interest. As a collector, he could more easily move and afford the copper coins, something I understood and agreed to the sale of for a reasonable discount. Alternately, he'd serve as a front for auctioning off the gold, more than making up for my loss there. I'd be back in a week to pick up the payment for that one, as well as arrange some further transactions. More useful to me immediately was the fat roll of bills nestled in my jacket.

If I was my father, I would be looking up some prominent local sake brewers, and trying to purchase their year's stock. If I was my mother, I'd be looking into property, or antiques of a more personal nature, something I could showcase in a home I no longer had. Instead, I asked around at a café outside of a motorcycle dealership, getting the cell number of an irritable salaryman who had assumed his day was over from a waitress, in exchange for a very generous tip and some tasteful flirting.

Two hours later, the shell-shocked salesman stood with both hands fisting bills to keep them from fluttering to the ground, as I got accustomed to the feel of my new ride between my legs. "Keep the change," I called over my shoulder, smirking slightly. I never got tired of saying that.

The city rolled by, and I updated my mental map as it did, matching landmarks with their visual counterparts as I sped past. Each of the points I'd marked were scouted briefly, the roads and surroundings devoted to memory. I would do more inspecting later, getting more than passing impressions. Ultimately, I was impressed – the city was clean, well-policed, and quiet. There were no ghettos, no 'inner city'; just deeper and denser tenements and the homes of the working class. What few police I passed nodded, and were helpful when I asked for directions, though I got some oddly intense looks when my hood was down from the wind catching it. The second time I made a point to check my hood and hide my hair before drawing attention to myself. Also, a helmet.

"Have to look into that later," I mused, driving by the long-stay motel the old moneychanger had suggested. Instead I drove the extra fifteen minutes toward the Academy, to the address left on the back of a napkin.

I parked my new toy outside the off-campus housing and knocked on one of the few doors with a light on outside. When a familiar face from the café answered, I returned the young woman's smile with one of my own. "Thanks for that earlier," I greeted, nodding out toward the lot and the Yamaha YZF-R1 cooling down there. "Sorry if I caused you some trouble."

"It was no trouble," the waitress replied with a shy smile, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. The question I knew was burning to be asked finally bubbled out of her as she looked anywhere but me for a few short moments, "But you're unbelievable! Just buying a bike like that. Is it fast?"

Noting the spark of interest in the woman's eyes, I let my smile settle into a grin. "Fast enough for me," I replied. "Maybe I can show you tomorrow…?"

Biting her lip, the young woman met my eyes finally and nodded, visibly gaining confidence. "Sure, I'd like that. Oh, you were looking for a place to stay – um, there are some hotels nearby but…"

"But?" I pulled my hood back and loosened my scarf, letting both hang down my back as I smiled warmly at the off-duty waitress.

"You could stay here?" The offer was more of a squeaked question, but not one I was surprised to hear. "I mean it would just be us girls after all—"

As I slipped inside the doorway, I let my arm slide around the girl's waist, chuckling, "Well, funny thing about that…" I nudged the door shut with my foot, laughing quietly to myself.

—

"Lash that one to the pillar. Use the chains – no, the large ones, you fool!" Through the ringing in my ears and what sounded like rocks grinding in my shoulders from broken bones shifting, I could just make out the feel of cold metal being wrapped around my wrists. Ah. They were talking about me.

This dream again.

Stale, fetid breath assaulted me, nearly robbing me of what scraps of focus I could bring to bear as a hand jerked my face upward. "The Emperor has plans for this one. Hang it beside our beloved prince."

Dark laughter answered those words, but I could hardly pay them any mind. My body was a ruin, and it was screaming its protests within my mind for letting it fall to such a state. I didn't have the energy to scream myself when the chains that bound me were wrenched and secured, leaving me to hang from them against what felt like a rough-hewn stone column. Gritting my teeth, I tried to shift my shoulders in some way that would let the bones there settle, but I was pulled taut, my arms twisted, pulled out and back robbing me of any kind of leverage.

Always the same place. The scene may change, but there was nothing now that could call itself nightmare, that would exceed these memories.

I tried to open my eyes again with limited success. My face was swollen and bruised to the point that it was the work of a handful of minutes just to crack open an eye, and then the light forced it shut once more as my head swam and I felt nausea slap against my awareness. "Concussion," I mused in a moment some time later when the howling of my pained limbs had grown numb from being stretched and twisted as they were. Shifting to try and roll my shoulder brought a new wave and flavor of agony, stealing the strength from my legs, as I slumped to the ground. "Among other things."

The dream, like the memory that spawned it, lost time.

I blurred from hanging in an unknown limbo, to trussed up amid a throne room so vast it could have contained all of Furinkan High School, with space to spare.

Pain rewrote my world, and I stared in horror as the red-hot halves of a massive link of chain were slowly pushed through my arm behind the wrist. My bones ground and cooked and splintered around them, until the halves welded themselves through my ruined flesh.

"Your attempt at escape, Phoenix-slayer was amusing, but I am not yet done with my prize."

My hand spasmed uselessly, clenching in reflex around the link of chain twice as big as my fist where it looped from where it was now permanently fixed. I kept my eyes there, rather than tempt myself by glancing at the massive form of the Musk Emperor where he stood, overlooking my torture. My rage would only gain me a beating that would no doubt leave me unconscious for days… and I could not risk that. Not again.

I shuddered at the memory of waking and the feel – no. No. I focused on the pain, let it build and burn and turn to ash all the things I feared, as it ran like magma though my veins.

Clawed hands pulled my face around, and I met blood-red eyes with my own, fury clear. "Good. It seems your fire is still there. Good, good. I would see how you compare, to that disgrace that was my son.

"Perhaps you will last longer, in the breaking." The man's breath smelled of rotted meat and charred bone, and I gagged. "But break you will."

I felt the dream shudder at my rage, but it held tight, clinging all the harder for it.

My world shivered and snapped into focus once more. How many days have I hung here, like a damn memento on a wall? I couldn't say. I don't remember how long it's been since I've seen the sun, to count time. I vaguely recall being moved, but when I began to heal, slowly, the Emperor's men would beat me into a worse state once more. It was a wonder my arms hadn't torn loose from my shoulders, honestly. "Word from the east, my Emperor."

I focused my vision on the kneeling man from my place behind the grand throne, looking over the horned crown of the Musk Emperor as he lazed. "Speak."

The soldier – I'd come to recognize the brutally massive forms of the Musk's warriors well – stood, maintaining his salute. "The Joketsuzoku are in disarray, routed and fleeing into the hills."

Images of Shampoo flitted through my mind, among others I'd briefly known among the so-called Chinese Amazons. I wondered if she was among those who had fallen, quick prey to the Musk after Jusendo, or if she had been hounded as she'd done to me, what felt like a lifetime ago. Somehow I didn't think the woman would have the sense to flee and fight another day, or escape these monsters.

"Then they fall into the jaws of my trap," the faceless Emperor mused, and I could blearily make out the crown nodding from where I hung. "Have the…"

The world swam, and then jolted. Ah. Here we are… again.

The Musk jailor's eyes bulged as I kicked upward, back creaking painfully as I bent and scissored my legs around once he'd gotten close enough. I savagely twisted my thighs, breaking the neck between them, letting the sack of dead meat fall to the ground. With a strangled cry I slumped against my chains, panting hard and winded from only that. My energy was failing, and soon, I'd have nothing left to fight with.

I would not end up like Herb. "I'll die first," I told myself, over and over again as I once more found myself glancing aside to the 'prince' of the Musk. Chained up as I had been, the once-proud cursed warrior hung blank-eyed and slack in her bonds, stomach bulging with the spawn of her own father weighing at her heavily. "I'll die first," I promised myself.

My curse was part of my torment, as daily I was forcibly shifted from male to female and back just as it seemed I would adjust to my bonds. Worse, were the occasional Musk who bragged at receiving the Emperor's favor, sent to 'enjoy' me. None had managed yet, but I was weakening. Every fight brought new wounds, or complicated old ones. It was Kuno all over again, only now there were no games being played, no pretense of honor being bandied about.

Emperor Lingzhi laughed at finding his 'favored' dead at my feet, and the razor-toothed smiles he showed me after made my skin crawl. I still remember what he said. How he would compare us, me and his broken 'son'.

I knew one day I wouldn't be able to fight back. Thinking on that, I glanced once more at Herb, one of the few on a list of those I'd been unable to fight and match in a straight battle. Helpless. Used. I shuddered and looked away, thankful they'd not gagged me. The day I lost, I would bite off my own tongue, and spit my last drop of blood in the face of the one that thought to make sport of me.

"I'll die first," I swore.

Nightmares rarely release you. Only once they've had their say, do the claws lose purchase. But of course, by then, the damage is done.

"Before I stripped him of his privilege, my son told me of your foolish idea to cure your curse," Emperor Lingzhi mused, smiling cruelly at me as he stood beside a table cluttered with odd items. Once more I was hung as a spectacle in the throne room, only now it seemed the Emperor was getting 'fond' of my company – a marble sculpture of a woman, heavily pregnant with her arms held upward beseechingly – had been placed beside his throne. As was now common, my chains were left in her hands, and I was hung to drape against her naked, cold, stone gravidity, a constant reminder of what my future would hold, if the Emperor had his say.

I recognized the Locking Ladle as Lingzhi poured water from a small cask into it. "Would you like to see the error of your ways, Phoenix-slayer?"

Confusion must have been clear on my face. Was he offering to cure my curse? That didn't make any sense at all. Not with how he'd acted, what he'd threatened me with up to this point.

"A little known fact of the cursed pools," the massive Musk continued, setting the loaded Ladle aside to rest against a stand of sorts, so it wouldn't tip. "Blood will intensify the magic. Binds it. Makes it stronger. The stronger the blood, the stronger the curse." Sparing me a grin oozing malice, the Emperor slashed his hand, draining his blood into the Ladle.

Creeping anxiety worked its way up my spine. Nothing about this could be good – nothing at all. The Emperor wouldn't give up his favorite plaything like this.

"You're still confused, so let me use an example. Ah, yes. That Taro whelp. Cursed quite magnificently, truly. Yet, he was unsatisfied with what the Pools gave him. So he came, and cursed himself anew."

The anxiety crystallized in my gut as realization came. How could I have missed that?

"I see you understand. Pity, I was hoping to see the full horror in your eyes, cresting and breaking that pathetic mind of yours all at once."

The cold bloody water splashed me in the face, shocking me out of my thoughts, and I felt the curse tighten about me, somehow. It was like I was suddenly aware of it all over again, where before it had fallen into the background of things that had simply become 'me'. Not so, now. I could feel the water, the Ladle, and the Dragon Emperor's blood mingling and twisting, and twisting me in the process. I felt my form shift, confusingly, until I recalled that the Ladle had been loaded with water from the Pool of Drowned Man. Dread washed over me as I looked down, noting that the breasts I'd had in my female form remained, but my height had changed, as well as my center of gravity.

Chuckling darkly, the Emperor dragged a massive golden mirror to stand before me, and I flinched at the person I saw reflected there. "Yes, Phoenix-slayer. Now you understand the foolishness of your desires. Cure a curse, with a curse?" Laughing loudly, the Emperor crumbled the mirror under a clawed hand before throwing it aside. "But don't worry.

"This changes nothing for my plans for you. Perhaps if you please me, I'll let you have my 'daughter' to play with?" The Musk tapped at his bearded chin with a cruel smile in place. "Perhaps see what you could sire on her? Once I'm through with her, of course."

Hate has its own calendar. However, there is an end to all such things. Winter comes for us all, eventually.

I convulsed around the sword pinning me to the pillar in the throne room, arms jerking uselessly where they had long ago been mangled by the chains piercing them. Despite it, I laughed, though it came out more like a stuttering cough littered with bloody foam.

Lingzhi glared at me with his remaining eye as I laughed amid a mingled mouthful of my own and Dragon Emperor blood, the ruin of his other eye leaking from between my peeled-back lips. "Didn't like the kiss, lizard fucker?"

The Emperor snarled, taking a step back to level his palm at me in a familiar gesture. Around us, the great throne room was full of Musk, come to watch their leader sire another heir, this time on the Phoenix-slayer. Only, I wasn't being so cooperative.

Herb had been taken away recently, supposedly for the sake of the child nearing term she was carrying, but who knew with these barbaric monsters. Maybe Herb had been the exception so long ago, or maybe she just hadn't grown into her cruelty, but I couldn't find it in me to care, now. Every Musk that came too close to me, I killed. They were either stupid or unimaginative, which I was glad for, but it didn't change the fact that they died if they touched me.

When I couldn't use my legs, I would crack my own molars, and spit the shards of tooth through their skulls. If they gagged me, I would twist my ki to be so poisonous, that the very air around me would curdle and darken as I held my breath. I've used my hair like a serrated whip, and learned to mix a poison from ki, spit, blood, and fury in my mouth.

Yet for all of it, it seems the Emperor was just biding his time, and wearing me down. Waiting for me to weaken, and my reserves to be exhausted, before he stepped up himself. Now, I was out of time and tricks, but not fury. Never fury. While my heart still pounded in my chest, I would know this rage against the so-called Dragon Emperor who had tortured me, strung me up like a trophy, and twisted my curse into making me a freak of nature.

With a hateful snarl of his own, the Emperor loosed his blade of ki at me, too enraged to preserve his plaything it seemed. Part of me rejoiced at seeing the killing blow heading my way. Finally, the pain could end. I could go meet with my father, Akane, all the friends who had been crushed when the Musk swept down on Phoenix Mountain only minutes after Saffron's defeat. I could finally be free of curses and magic.

Not yet.

My body knew my will before my mind could voice it. I flexed, muscles clenching about the blade between my ribs as I kicked off the pillar. Despite it, the edge sawed and more blood flowed, stealing my breath. But, as my legs slipped just above the blade of ki, I howled in victory. When the carved pillar shattered, and the heavy chain connecting my arms fell, it was around the neck of the Dragon Emperor they pulled it as I landed heavily and gracelessly behind him.

Despite it, the Emperor matched my howl of rage with one of sadistic glee. "And yet you rage! Magnificent!"

Never had I thirsted for a kill like this. All my hate, rage, shame, pain, and humiliation went into the hands twisted around the chain welded through my wrists, and it responded. Maybe it was something to do with the cursed water and Ladle, the long contact with my own blood and ki, or just a fluke of the metal, but it responded, and I didn't care at the time why. Hooked barbs split from the main body of the links, peeling back like leaves drying under a witheringly hot day. Already they were piercing the Dragon Emperor's scaled hide, lighting a new fire in the crazed man's eyes.

Bracing my feet on the man's shoulders, I wrenched my numb arms and drank in the spray of boiling blood that resulted. The Emperor's mad laughter became a rasping choke as he realized his peril too late, and I shifted my weight again, and wrenched.

At least, I tried to. The form of a man swelled and grew beneath me, and my chains were thrown apart carelessly. The barbs which had caught so well before clattered and skidded across steel-hard scales now larger than my palm. Where before I'd been strangling the life from a man, now I was barely keeping purchase on the back of a raging Dragon.

Musk that came to aid their Emperor died by the droves as the mad Dragon raged, his ki lashing out in desperation at anything near him. I was, however, settled in the eye of the storm. As I bent my knees and found some hold, I wondered where this fight would lead me. That lasted all of a moment, as Lingzhi thrashed anew and threw me across the throne room and through the doors to his treasury.

Panting where I'd fallen amid a hoard of gold and stolen wealth, I began to laugh, as the Musk fled the throne room in unreasoning animal panic. Two familiar staves were planted in there, supporting the desiccated corpse of a winged figure.

It was far from over, but the nightmare ended, satisfied with its prey for the moment.

I woke briefly, staring up at the ceiling as the memories of the day before washed the nightmare away in soft warmth and a murmured, half-asleep question from Yuuka. Taking a breath to still my heart, I curled an arm about the girl and nuzzled up against her back, drinking in the scent of her hair and the softness of her skin to chase away the bitter taste of fear in my throat.

—

The lack of a warm body by my side woke me fully, where a shaft of sun in my face and an unfamiliar alarm had barely dented my heavy sleep. Habit had me checking the room as I snapped fully awake, only seeing the usual sort of morning disarray I'd expect in the unfamiliar room. The sound of the shower running let me settle back and relax, the day caught up to me.

I had a lot to do, and as always, time was not on my side.

I'd been on the road for months after leaving China behind me for good. Those months had easily turned into years, as one thing led to another. Honestly, I could blame most of what happened after finally washing my hands of the Musk on my aimless wandering. If I'd just come straight back to Japan, I'd never have met her, and well… life would be much less complicated. "But, also boring," I mused, pulling a long leather cord from around my neck to hold up to the morning sun. It had twisted up in the blanket and my bound hair overnight, as it was prone to do.

Two charms adorned the thing, and I felt the slight smile waking up in Yuuka's bed fading as I peered at them. As if I didn't have enough to carry around already she had to fall into my lap, literally, back in Hong Kong. I sighed, poking at the two stylized chess pieces with a frown. The Queen and broken King dangled there, swaying from my attention on them. People had asked about them, of course, and I'd had to think of excuses for why I wore such odd mementoes, but to myself the reasons were simple enough.

They were a reminder of a debt that I owed someone. A life had been saved and lost, because I couldn't keep my head out of someone else's business, thinking myself invincible after putting that mad dog of a self-proclaimed Emperor down. Because of that, and her, now I was working on borrowed time.

I shook off my reminiscing and let the cord fall from my hand, leaving the chess pieces dangling between my breasts over my heart where they tended to fall. Later I'd find where my bindings had been thrown and wrap my breasts again, slimming down my profile and keeping them out of the way and supported, something I'd come to appreciate the benefit of.

Part of me wondered what I was doing, letting myself be drawn in by someone like Yuuka, as I listened to the shower cut off and the sound of the young woman's voice set in a low hum. With the things I was doing, it would be best for both of us if I'd just left her the tip yesterday, and dealt with whatever surprise the old moneychanger would have set up for me at the motel. The easy answer was there, of course, and I would be fooling myself if I denied it had some truth to it. It wasn't the whole reason, but there was enough there to maybe lead me to the rest.

"I was lonely, and wanted this," I could easily admit to myself. I'd hardly been chaste by choice back when things were so muddled back in Nerima, but even hinting that one of those girls chasing after me had managed to get under my skin would have escalated things. I didn't want anyone getting hurt or killed over me sporting wood. People would get hurt or die, if I'd responded to some of the advances I was on the receiving end of. Sometimes, in the case of the Kuno's, it'd be by my hand as there was no way in hell I'd willingly and of my own free will do so.

Maybe I was being too reactionary, in retrospect, but my captivity by the Musk had soured my view to even delusional attempts to force such things on me. If Tatewake showed up today and tried his usual nonsense, I honestly feared for his life. There were some triggers I had now that just didn't have a safety setting.

Yuuka hadn't been my first such tryst since leaving the Musk Empire burning in my footsteps, but she caused me the most concern. I was going to be in this city for a while, and could tell things were not quite as they appeared, here. Above and beyond that, I knew what my presence here, and the things I'd sensed, would mean in the long run. There would be fights. "Battles," I corrected myself, lazing back in the young woman's bed. "The kind that would make the Wrecking Crew's resume look like kid's playing in the street".

I considered that and decided on a path for later that day. As much as I liked Yuuka's company, I had to do something. Sure, the nightmares came less, with someone there with me in the dark. I was not too proud to admit that to myself. But I've lived with nightmares and bad sleep. I didn't want her getting hurt on my conscience.

"They're getting less frequent," I murmured, mulling over those thoughts as I turned my eyes to the woven chain around my wrist. The gold links picked up the sun and seemed to urge it on, reflecting it brighter as it cast rays across the room. Or, perhaps it was just my imagination. "Yeah, right."

"Um…"

I turned a slow smile to where Yuuka was standing, half-hidden behind her bathroom door, shuffling my thoughts away for later perusal. "Good morning."

Blushing prettily, the young woman again had a hard time looking directly at me. "Good morning," she murmured, and I noted the towel wrapped around her body. "Um, what were you saying…?"

"Just thinking about the past," I replied simply, now noting the faint steam of a shower having been run. As I watched the young woman, my smile grew along with her blush. "I'm sorry. Would you like me to leave…?"

Yuuka's blush ratcheted up as she shook her head quickly after a moment's hesitation. "No, it's just… I don't do this kind of thing."

"Sleep with strangers you've just met," I elaborated for her, more to see that blush spread than to get her by her shyness. "I understand."

"But you're so…" Stalling, the woman huffed and came fully into the room, apparently either too flustered or embarrassed to hide any longer. That changed once she noted the condition of the sheets covering me, and the familiar – to me – morning reaction fueled by memories of what had happened in that bed only hours previous. With her eyes now fixed on my waist, I sat up, pulling the blanket up over my breasts so as to not have to deal with the cold quite yet.

To fill the silence, I offered a word, to see if it fit. "Different?"

"I was thinking confident, but yes," Yuuka muttered, ripping her eyes away and back up to my face with visible effort. "I mean I understand how you explained… well that," she murmured, blushing hotly down to where her towel was loosely knotted across her chest, shooting another look to my waist and the evidence of the previous night's memories tenting the blankets of her bed. "But I was just thinking on how you just… do what you want. I mean you just called up Toshio from the dealership yesterday and handed him cash for that bike out front, after asking about the place over some tea. I could never do that."

"Sure you could," and I meant it, though we both knew I wasn't speaking of an identical situation. "You just have to know you can do something. Then you take that first step, and don't slow down for anything."

"But I don't know—"

"Then fake it so hard that eventually the world believes it." Apparently that idea stunned her, so I elaborated, "Think of it like this. If you keep thinking you can do anything, eventually you'll believe it. If you keep that up, everyone around you will see it too. In time, they'll believe it. It's not a large step from there to convincing the world you can do whatever you want."

Yuuka looked down at her hands, a small smile playing over her lips. "So, do whatever you want, huh?"

I liked what I was hearing in the waitress's voice. Folding my hands behind my head, I let the sheet go, and noted with some amusement how my breasts seemed to shrug the thing off on their own accord. "Anything. Just take that first step."

A smooth thigh swung over me, pinning me to the bed before my words had finished echoing about the room. I looked up into a pair of intent brown eyes, as a towel was thrown aside unnoticed. My attention was fixed on a slender hand, reaching between her still-damp skin and my own that had trapped much of the blanket's warmth, circling a part of me that had nestled between Yuuka's thighs as she straddled me. "I think I like this way of thinking."

I chuckled briefly before distracting, clinging, damp heat surrounded me. "Quick study."

"I have," a gasp interrupted her, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way, "a very good teacher."

Despite getting up before 7 AM, I didn't manage to get out of Yuuka's bed till after noon. Not that I was complaining. I did promise her a ride after all.

—

Stopping at an intersection, I peered back at Yuuka's elated face, feeling my own smile answering her. "So, where does someone go to get a helmet around here?"

The bike was, honestly, too fast for Yuuka, so I kept the speed to what she could deal with and still be exciting to her, as I stole the hours of her day to have a guide for the city. Seeing her point over my shoulder at a shop, I pulled to the curb and helped her to her feet. We both laughed when she wobbled, unused to riding so much.

I was in and out of the biking accessory shop too fast for my companion, who pouted at me 'shopping like a boy', as she called it. Still, she liked the helmet I picked up for her, and agreed to wear the pack I'd purchased, as it would be hard for her to feel secure on the bike with it between us.

"Tell me a bit about this town," I asked, pulling up to a street-side vendor that sold drinks. I had a few things to do, and there wasn't anything near the bike shop, and with this much time in the sun I could use a drink. Yuuka didn't complain, contently nibbling a strawberry ice while I polished off two glasses of cold coffee and a milk.

From where she was seated on a bench, Yuuka did so, fascinated as I calmly started tearing down part of my bike to install a few of my purchases. "Well, the real center of the city is Kuoh Academy. It was a girl's school not so long ago, but they opened up enrollment to boys recently. It was a good idea – it really bolstered the economy around here."

"Yeah, I've rode past it a few times," I murmured, securing a small load-bearing arm off the rear frame. Nothing too serious, but solid, which I liked. "Looked pretty foreign, to be honest. Old place?"

"I think so," the waitress murmured, tapping her chin. "I'm not sure. I know there's a few dedications on the walls, so maybe they'd say?"

I nodded. Smart girl. "They'd say, yeah. I'll check it out maybe, if one of their brochures doesn't tell me."

"The Academy was here before the city, really. So I'm guessing it was pre-war? Maybe back when the Spanish and Dutch were more prominent…" Yuuka trailed off with a shrug, and I raised a brow. "Well, the Administrator and his daughter are both there. She's school-age, and they're foreign."

I tucked that bit of knowledge away for later. It was unusual in this day and age to have a foreigner so well-respected, and central, to a city as modern and well-maintained as this. Not to say I really cared much either way, but it was just how people worked. They didn't like outsiders running things in their home towns. Plus, I'd seen the kind of squalor outside interests usually caused in such cities. Hong Kong was a city that was built on exploitation, and the root of that had been its history of being exploited by foreign interests for years.

It wasn't a new or unique tale. People with power only saw the things around them as resources, things to be used. That mindset I was well-accustomed to.

"So, what's this guy's name?"

My question jerked Yuuka from her daydream, and she giggled. "Gremory is their family name. That's what surprised me, about you. You look so similar to them, and with how you went about things…" the young woman paused to blush a bit, but there was a smile about her face. "Ah, but you didn't know. For a while there, I thought you were perhaps Rias's aunt or something."

I smiled a bit at Yuuka's admittance. Honestly, it seemed a bit strange for her to be so taken with me so quickly as well, so having something of an explanation was useful. It also gave me some traction for what I had in mind later, knowing part of why she'd been so quick to help me.

Apparently, this Gremory family had a lot of influence. I recalled how people reacted differently when they could see my hair, and frowned slightly. If the Gremory family was as well-connected and considered as I was thinking they were, then it was likely someone from my bumbling around yesterday may have contacted them. What a time to miss the curse changing my hair color. "That may cause me some trouble later."

"Eh?"

"Nothing," I demurred, forgetting for a moment I had an audience. Tightening the bolts on the hard shell saddlebags, I tested their mountings and nodded to myself. "Just mumbling a bit.

"So, now that we've got a way to carry some things, where does a girl get some clothes around here?"

Yuuka's grin was infectious, and I didn't bother hiding my hair for the rest of the day. Honestly, it was likely best I get this whole thing out of the way sooner as opposed to later, and the damage had already been done, so trying to disappear off the radar now would only looks suspicious. It did help to have a known local girl helping me out, and deflecting the now-expected looks at my hair and eyes, however. Maybe that would minimize some of the attention I really didn't need. Plus I couldn't help but think I remembered that name from somewhere, and the only ways that would work was if Pops had been involved, or she had mentioned them, back in Hong Kong.

The former would be annoying, the latter could be deadly. For once, I was hoping it was just another fiancée, but knowing my luck these days… Ah well. I'd deal with it when it came up.

Afternoon had come quick, considering the two of us had spent most of our morning in bed, and it was after a nice meal at a local café that I let my expression get serious. This got Yuuka's attention, despite the ice cream in front of her, and I took that moment to say what I had planned that morning.

"Yuuka, you're what – nineteen?"

"Eighteen and a few months," the bubbly waitress corrected, but nodded. "Close enough."

I took a drink of the beer I'd ordered and considered my words carefully. "Do you have family outside the city?"

"Eh, my parents live a few minutes outside of Hakone. I moved here for school and to get a bit of space…"

"I understand that," I assured her, and the tension in her shoulders lessened a bit. "My father was a real piece of work. But, I wouldn't be the person I am today, without him.

"That said… I think you might want to head back to Hakone for a while, soon."

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

I mulled that question over for a minute, trying to decide how to word what I'd say next, but something outside of our booth got my attention first. It was a familiar smell, like old parchment and subway tracks just after a train. Scowling, I finished my beer in one long draught and pinned Yuuka with a look. "Stay in the booth. Whatever happens, whatever you see – stay here. Promise me."

"I," looking around, the waitress nodded, seeing something in my eyes that startled her. I could imagine what it was. "Sure. I'll just finish my ice cream…"

"Keep your eyes on the street," I told her, knowing our brief association would override any barriers put in place soon. Sex was interesting that way, in how it mingled energies. "Order me a bowl too. I'll be back in a few minutes. Maybe then you'll understand," just in case, I peeled a few bills from the roll in my jacket pocket, leaving them on the table. I might be using a fight as an excuse to dodge explaining myself, but I wasn't a jerk like Pops when it came to paying my way.

Pulling my scarf up where I'd left it that day, I tied it in place once more, then the red hood that was sewn into the collar of my scaled leather jacket. I chuckled briefly, walking out to the sidewalk as I thought on my choice of clothing for the day. "Suppose it was a good idea to stick with my leathers after all. No rest for the wicked, I suppose."

"Or forgiveness," came a rough voice, preceding the figure I'd noted following Yuuka and I for the last hour. I'd hoped, perhaps foolishly, that it was coincidence, but here we were. He was a tall, rather broad-shouldered foreigner, wearing a dark long coat over his white clerical garb. I noted a small cross hanging from his collar, but could make little out of the man's face as it was hidden by a wide-brimmed hat. Most of what I could see was a wide, strong jaw and a scowl. "You stray far from the safety of your nest, devil. I expected more of a Gremory."

Gremory was a devil family? Oh. Well, that meant it wasn't Pop's fault I recognized the name after all. Figures. "Actually off your mark there a bit, Father."

The broad-shouldered figure scoffed. "Trying to deceive me? I know the taint of your kind, devil. I will not be fooled."

"Actually, I was talking about the Gremory part," I casually replied, chuckling as I unbuttoned the catches on my jacket's sleeves. Once that was done, I turned to face the Exorcist and relaxed my hands at my sides, turning to keep the café to my right. The street ran straight for a distance either way, so I wasn't concerned with collateral damage those directions, but with Yuuka inside the barrier thanks to our busy morning… I didn't want either of us facing that way. Satisfied that the battlefield was set to my liking, I nodded to the foreigner, "White goes first."

"I need no politeness from the damned!" He was fast – I'll give him that. In the space of those words three silver daggers passed by me, as I slid to offer a profile rather than a wider target. He used the motion to reach into his coat and draw out what looked like the bottom portion of a large ornate cross. He had a moment to throw his wide hat to the side, revealing a scarred, old face and a pair of dark small round glasses, before moving to meet a counterattack that did not come.

As I'd turned to let his daggers pass, I twisted at the connection between myself and the golden chain about my wrist. It was a mental exercise, rather than a physical one, but the result was anything but subtle. The golden links corroded in a way gold was never meant to, blackening, losing their neat lines and gentle curves. Instead, they writhed there, growing twisted and dire. The latch snapped apart and the two ends struck at my wrist like angry snakes, burrowing into my skin. As they did, the slack swelled and coiled, growing quickly as the rough metal began to glow with a dull red heat.

Out of my right sleeve the length of smoking, charred, barbed chain fell, rattling like tuneless bells as the mass pooled at my feet. The sight gave the Exorcist pause, and he let the hilt in his hand waver for a moment as he regarded me fully for the span of time it took for what had once been proof of my imprisonment to coil restlessly at my feet.

"You…" the Exorcist murmured quietly, before gathering his strength to speak and be heard. "You are the one they call Dragonslayer. I did not know you were a devil."

"It happened recently, in Hong Kong," I explained patiently, unsurprised that the hallmark that I'd acquired and taken from Emperor Lingzhi's hospitality was recognized. I had not been subtle in my crusade after leaving the Musk Dynasty behind me, nothing but ashes and ruin. "I made a mistake, and nearly got what I thought was a little girl killed. Long story short, I took a hit for the girl, and she made me an offer I wasn't alive to refuse."

The cleric nodded grimly at my explanation. "Then do you seek oblivion, devil? There is no cure for your state but death."

I chuckled quietly at that, shaking my head. "No, Father. I have debts yet to repay, and work to do."

"Do you intend to add to the evil of this cursed city?" The hilt in the man's hand quivered, and the smell of lightning and ozone rose to the point it nearly made me choke.

"I intend to do what my name demands," the chain at my feet slithered about, searing the pavement till it reeked of sulfur from the tar being bled from the heat. "I've come here to slay a Dragon."

The cleric again nodded grimly. "I have heard murmurings of such a one here. No more than rumors, however."

"Then I will exhaust those rumors, till I have broken the Dragon with these chains," I declared, reaching up with the hand they were bound to, and gripping a length between my hands, ignoring their heat. The Exorcist's sword finally ignited, the blade of light bursting from the hilt with a sound like water screaming against red-hot steel. I regarded the man for a moment, before asking, "You would protect the beast, knowing what it is?"

"No, I would not. But I cannot stand aside when evil would act. Are you prepared for oblivion, Dragonslayer?"

"Not even slightly," I countered immediately, getting a fierce grin in reply from the cleric. "Step away from this Father. I have no business here other than the Dragon. I may even put down some other devils while I'm here. I've got no quarrel with you and yours."

"For a good man to do the work of evil, he need only stand idly aside," the Exorcist countered, shaking his head firmly. "No, Dragonslayer. I will pursue those rumors and bring my Brothers to see the beast put down, once I end your affront to the grace of God here, now."

I nodded, seeing the man's resolve. Resigning myself even as my blood began to thunder and thirst for the coming fight, I admitted to myself that this could have ended no other way. That I wanted it to end, no other way. "Then our conversation is over. Go with God, Father."

"In His name."

A twist of my waist and step, and my arm fell like the blade of a headsman's axe. Hellfire and steel followed after, as I ripped the chain screaming through the air. The ground between me and the Exorcist exploded in smoke and fitful flames as the super-heated chain crashed down, but the holy man was not there.

I rolled forward under the leaping cleave that cratered the ground where I was, mentally recalling the chain to a more useful form. As it slithered back in on itself and around my fist, I drove the priest back, forcing him on the defensive with a series of wide sweeping kicks that were never where he expected them, defeating his hastily raised sword. Frustrated with this, he lashed out with a vertical slash that could have split me in half, had I been there. Turning on my heel, I slipped around, then hopped over the sword as it was drawn across where my legs were after spinning around the wide attack.

When the cleric turned to keep me in his vision, he didn't have time to react before my fist bent him double, sending him skidding backward a dozen feet with a smoking, charred hole in his robes. I waited as he frantically put out the small flares that ate at the material, leaving the massive bruise that was forming on his chest open to see. When he did finally recall I was still there, he scrambled to bring his sword up to defend himself, only to seem me waiting patiently, the chain's coils glowing ominously where they nestled against my fist.

"Why do you hesitate? I am your enemy."

I laughed quietly at that, shaking my head. "No, Father, you're just someone I'm fighting. If you were my enemy this would have already ended."

Perhaps I'd knocked some common sense and self-preservation into the man, as he seemed to give my words some serious thought. Finally, he nodded wearily and let the sword of holy light sputter and die, tucking the hilt back under his robes. "I see, devil. I had doubted that you were truly the Dragonslayer, as we had hoped you were one of ours, come to see some of this recent madness ended.

"But I see I was wrong," it was clear the man hated admitting that, and I did not goad him despite the biting urge to do so. "And, as much as I would relish the opportunity to give you the peace of His grace, I am not a man up to that task, nor can I stray from the duty I was performing before crossing your path."

I nodded to the Exorcist, relaxing my stance and the spiritual pressure that kept the chain around my fist manifested as it was. With an almost mournful rasp it twisted and fell about my hand, one more appearing as little more than an ornate golden chain. "As I said, I have no quarrel with you, Father. Do you need help back to the Cathedral?"

The man laughed quietly, bitterly at that. "You have not seen it, then? No, devil. I have no desire to see that blasphemy again."

Pops raised me to be stupid, but cunning. I'd done much to change this situation, while keeping the edge I'd initially been given. Taking what the cleric had said and his reaction at the mention of the Cathedral into account, I could only raise a brow as I walked up the where the Exorcist had fallen to a knee. "Fallen, as well? Truly, Father, you are beset on all sides in this place."

A quiet, if dark chuckle was the man's response as he took my offered hand, and the support of my shoulder as I ushered him into the café where I could see Yuuka staring at us with wide eyes. "Ezekiel 25:17? Yes, appropriate, perhaps. The Lord's vengeance here I think is the humility I must show, in taking aid from one who should be my enemy."

"Isaiah 65:25, Father. Only, replace straw with a hamburger."

The cleric's laugh helped diffuse Yuuka's anxiety, as I settled him in the booth beside me. I didn't worry about the holy man making trouble at this point, but I also didn't trust him, yet, which meant I wanted him by me, not the cute waitress who I doubted could defend herself. My history with Exorcists up to this point was sparse, and filled with zealots who left reason behind with their sanity when they were issued their swords. Finding one who could listen was a pleasant change of pace.

"So," the man finally offered, settling his scorched coat about him in a way that mostly masked the massive hole I'd burned in his robes, "introductions, I think, are in order. I am Father Isaac, an Exorcist from Australia to see what has happened, here."

Yuuka glanced between us and I gave her a small smile after pulling my scarf down, and letting my hood fall back. "Um, Yuuka Minamori. I'm a… a waitress. Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, child." Turning his attention back to me, the Exorcist raised a brow, "All the tales of your exploits painted you a man of great stature. I was surprised to be facing what I assumed was a teenager, admittedly, one I could sense great power from. Now I find a woman under that red hood and scarf. What other surprises are you waiting to spring on an old man, Dragonslayer?"

"I get that a lot," I replied with a smirk, taking a long drink of the refill of beer Yuuka had thoughtfully ordered for me in my absence. "Ahh, that hit the spot. As for surprises… not much, really. What you see is what you get." I ignored Yuuka's strangled laughter, though it did pull my lips into a smile. "I still go by Ranma Saotome, but I suppose Astaroth is a name you'd recognize better?" At that, I pulled the small leather thong from where it was secured within the wraps around my chest, letting it fall outside my shirt. I noted the cleric's widened eyes when he saw what was there, and I nodded. "Yes, that Astaroth."

"So you are also the Red Queen," the Exorcist swallowed noisily and I offered him the water I hadn't touched. He gratefully took it and drank deeply, ordering his thoughts.

In that time, I turned to Yuuka, "So! About what we were talking about earlier…"

"I'd like something like an explanation for what just happened, first. I think I'm being good about not freaking out, so far, but I make no promises beyond the next five minutes," my companion shot back, eliciting a wince from me and a quiet chuckle from Father Isaac.

I nodded, thought I had hoped the whole 'brawl in the street' thing involving swords of light and red-hot chains covered in hellfire would have convinced her to just run for something normal and sane. "For my part, I'll tell you whatever you ask, but I can't answer beyond some generalities for Father Isaac."

"That will be fine, Lady Astaroth."

I flinched at the title, but conceded it was better than being called 'Dragonslayer' all the time. "Basically, I had a pretty wild time in China, and at the end of the day, ended up slaying a very old asshole of a Dragon." I reached up and ran my hands down the edges of my jacket, causing the cleric to sputter and spit water as he finally took a good look at the leather it was made of. "You remember how I mentioned I was cursed there? Well the Dragon in question did that. "

Blushing, Yuuka stared at me wide-eyed. Having a priest – or something like one – here nodding along to what I'd briefly explained must have been something of a shock. Sure, I'd already explained some of this in very brief detail, but like most, I assume Yuuka just thought I was making a wild excuse for being born… different. It was the usual response, now that I couldn't unlock my curse to prove things. "So that's why you're…"

"Different, yes," I saved her needing to try and find a word for a gender that really didn't exist, outside of fetish manga and anime. "Which is why I was a bit angry. Among other things," I deferred, refusing to revisit the stuff of my nightmares, again. "I was something of a hot-shot martial artist before I was captured, and when I got free, I kind of tore the Dragon's little corner of China down on top of him."

"As I recall it, you have a flee-on-sight designation on the continent," Father Isaac added, unhelpfully. "Unofficially, of course. The People's Republic would never openly or officially admit to something like that."

"Are you hungry, Father?" I asked with a grimace. "Because I can order you something, you know. To keep you quiet."

"Thank you, Lady Astaroth, but I'm fine." Contradicting what he just said, the man called out an order to a passing waitress, before favoring me with a look. "Do go on, please."

"Anyway," I groused, turning my attention back to an amused Yuuka, "I was heading back to Japan, and stopped in Hong Kong. While I was there, I stumbled on what I thought was a little girl, being bullied by some local thugs. Turns out it was the other way around, really. The girl was Illiya Astaroth, youngest daughter of a prominent devil family."

Yuuka looked between the two of us, the Exorcist and me, with a skeptical look on her face. "Devil? Like bat wings and horns and hooves and stuff? Because I don't remember seeing any of that."

I gave the waitress a droll look. "You seemed to be having enough problems dealing with what I did have," I reminded her, causing the girl to sputter and blush hotly. "I'll show you later, alright?" Getting a dubious nod in reply, I continued, "So, being the hot-head I am, I jumped down and beat a few of the guys down, which prompted Illiya to get on my case for stealing her fun.

"We got into a pretty serious argument that ended up with us busting up most of a city block. When the local Triad showed up to see who was making a mess of their territory, well… I learned it was harder to dodge bullets than it looks like in the movies."

The silence after that was punctuated by the waitress from the café bringing the Father his salad, and a coffee. I reached to the charms on my necklace, running my fingers over the simple wood carvings. "Illiya finally lost her patience and finished leveling the block, with most of the Triad included. I don't know why she raised me, but," shrugging, I let the chess pieces slip from my fingers. "And there I was. Newly reborn in the service to a brat devil."

Though she worked as a waitress, I could tell from our time together that Yuuka was not a stupid girl. She didn't miss much, and apparently, something in my explanation bothered her, greatly, "You died? She brought you back?"

"It's how things work," I replied with a sigh. "I don't recall it at all. To me, it was just like closing my eyes for a moment, then I opened them up again to a world turned wrong."

"And you can't get… well. Fixed? Un-devil-ified?"

"No, child," Father Isaac answered while I chuckled at Yuuka's wording. "This way in which some devils increase their number cannot be undone. The only release is in death."

I held up my hand at that, "And I've got unfinished business to deal with, so I'm not ready to punch that ticket yet."

"I see, now. I recall hearing from a brother exorcist that your King was injured gravely?"

"Proving the only thing faster than light is rumor," I countered, but nodded at the cleric's question. "She was taken back home, so to speak, by her brother. Which brings me to the here and now. I've been tracking the devils responsible for that down, and the trail lead me to here."

Father Isaac frowned, quickly finishing his bite of salad before speaking, "Do you suspect the Gremory to be the ones behind your Master's injury?"

I shrugged at that, while Yuuka choked on her water. "I don't know. I've only been here a day, but from what I'm hearing, I doubt they'd need or want to make a move like that. No, I think it was internal politics, with what her brother was saying."

"Ah, the machinations of those seeking power."

I smirked slightly. "Something like that. What I don't understand is why they'd come here, if the one's I'm looking for are a third party. If this is some other devil family's territory—"

"Wait!"

The Father and I turned our attention to the waitress who was staring at us wide-eyed. "You said… but Gremory… devils? What?"

A new voice broke into the conversation, as a young woman slid into the seat beside Yuuka. I could tell immediately why she'd made the connection between us, if only at a glance. Where my hair was the color of dried blood, this young woman's was the brilliant red of fall maple leave. Our eyes were similar, but having to stare my own down in the mirror each morning, I knew mine were colder, the color of a coming storm front to her clear sky. "Not information I like being tossed about idly, but judging by what I saw earlier, and now smell, I suppose In understand."

Sparing the young devil a lopsided smile as the Father at my side tensed like a spring, I offered my hand. "Rias Gremoy, I take it?"

The young woman shook my hand, but did not return my smile. Her eyes slipped to the chess pieces about my neck, widening slightly. "Yes. And you are?"

"I was once known at Ranma Saotome. These days I go by a few other names," I replied, taking another long draw from the beer I'd been nursing. "Dragonslayer, Red Queen."

"Lady Astaroth," Father Isaac offered, hiding his smirk behind a lapel. Unhelpful ass.

"I see," the woman sitting beside a poleaxed Yuuka murmured, eying me speculatively. Like a switch being thrown, her expression brightened, and she favored me with a smile that made the small hairs at the back of my neck stand rigid. "Now, what was this about slaying Dragons?"

—

AN: For those of you wondering on timeframe for Ranma – just after Saffron. The Musk, under Herb's father's leadership, swept in on the Phoenix once Ranma had defeated Saffron, like any decent and moderately intelligent military power should have. Clearly, that didn't go well for anyone involved, including them, in time.

For DxD, this is set BEFORE the manga – and I'm using the manga here, because FUCK THAT DROSS ON TV. I actually have some moderate respect for the work as it was made in published form, but the clearly fanservice-laden anime… way to ruin the potential of a series.