"Issei!" Shouted Kunou while hugging Issei.
"Hey, Kunou"
"I missed you! Why didn't you come back for so long?' Whined Kunou.
"I had some problems to take care of..." Replied Issei.
"What kind of problems?" Asked Kunou tilting her head cutely.
"It's nothing" Replied Issei not wanting to talk about it.
"Well then, shall we go?" Asked Yasaka from behind with a kind smile.
"Sure" Replied Issei as he lifted Kunou and carried her on his shoulders.
"I'm so high up!"
"Then get used to it, I'll be doing this for at least three days, we'll do anything you want"
"Really!?"
"Yep! so get ready" Said Issei.
Yasaka just watched from behind Issei's and her daughter's interaction. It made her so happy to see Kunou this happy.
She never had a father so to see Issei acting as a father figure to Kunou made Yasaka extremely happy.
After reaching their destination, Yasaka showed Issei's room, and after that, Kunou wanted to go and spend time with Issei.
"Mom! can I and Issei go outside? I want to show him places that only the supernatural can enter" Asked Kunou her mother with puppy eyes.
Yasaka only giggled and looked at Issei who only nodded with a smile.
"Alright, you can go, but come back for dinner"
"Yay! Let's go Issei! we will have so much fun!"
"Alright, you want me to carry you on my shoulders again?"
"Yes please!" Replied Kunou.
Issei picked up Kunou and carried her on his shoulders while Yasaka watched them leave with a big smile.
"Thank you Issei" Whispered Yasaka to herself.
As Issei and Kunou walked through the streets people looked at them with smiles. Kunou and Issei first went sightseeing around the area.They went to a restaurant where they ate breakfast because Issei didn't have any today, talked about different things while they were eating.
"Why are you so different now? your eyes are red instead of the brown ones" Asked Kunou confused.
"Well, I'm a dragon now and I'm like a brother of Ddraig and Albion so I have their similarities" Replied Issei.
"What about your hair?" Asked Kunou.
"Same thing here, both of the heavenly dragons had a big influence on my appearance" Answered Issei.
"That's cool!" Exclaimed Kunou.
Everything was going well until Kunou said something that made Issei freeze.
"I hope next time you will bring auntie Irina! she's fun to play with too" Said Kunou as she took another bite of her meal.
Issei just remembered that Irina was sent to heaven that day because Michael needed Irina's help for some kind of project.
How will Irina react to what happened to Issei? What will she do? What will she think?He knew that Irina cares about him. Issei cares about Irina too, that's why he doesn't want her to fall because of her negative thoughts. He wondered where she was now, what she'll do when she'll return.
"...Are you alright?" Asked Kunou sounding concerned.
"Hm? O-oh yea I'm fine, what is it?"
"Well, I was trying to snap you out of your thoughts for the past ten minutes. C'mon, we don't have that much time left before we'll have to return home" Said Kunou as she stood up from her seat.
"Alright, let's go"
They went sightseeing some more and went back home because it was getting dark already. Kunou seemed happy the whole day but when they were walking back she looked kinda down.
"Do you want us tomorrow to spend some time together again?" Asked Issei.
Kunou's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Of course!" Replied Kunou with excitement.
They got back home and ate dinner together. Yasaka informed Issei about something while they were eating.
"By the way Ise, tomorrow Sun Wukong will come to Kyoto to talk about something with me so I think he can spare you some of his time too" Said Yasaka.
"Understood, thanks" Replied Issei.
They finished their dinner and went to their rooms.
Issei sat at the edge of the bed to get his thoughts together until someone knocked on the door. Once Issei looked up at the door he saw Yasaka standing there.
"You need something?" Asked Issei.
"I want to talk"
"What about?" Asked curious Issei.
"What...what happened to you?"
Issei flinched at her question but decided to play dumb.
"What do you mean what happened to me? I'm perfectly fine" Replied Issei.
"Don't lie Issei... I can see that you act differently, you don't even look at my breasts, you changed so much and I'm not talking about your completely new look" Said Yasaka.
Issei felt ashamed for ogling at Yasaka's figure.
"Plus we Youkai can feel the emotions of the person with senjutsu, your aura sometimes leaks and I feel that you are hurting. Just tell me what's wrong and I'll try to help you" Said Yasaka as she sat beside him.
"...I don't know what can you even do about it...Ingvild, Valerica, and two other girls in my school are trying to help me already... of course, it's working to some extent... Kunou helps me too even without her knowing. Recently I realized that I love children... Kunou makes me so happy when I see her smiling and having fun with me... It's like she's my daughter...is that what it feels like to be a parent? " Said Issei.
Yasaka didn't expect Issei to say something like this but was extremely happy nonetheless.
"I'm glad that you are already recovering but I still want to know what happened..." Said Yasaka.
"I was... Stabbed in the back" Said Issei.
"By who?" Asked Yasaka.
"My former girlfriends..." Replied Issei with a shaky voice.
"What do you mean by former? What did they do to you?" Asked Yasaka with concern.
"After the graduation of Rias and her queen, we had a party at my house with ORC, Sairaorg, Riser, and Saji.
I left the party at night and went to Grigori to get the rings with Kiba that I made with the help of Azazel and Kiba. I wanted to propose to my girlfriends... but that didn't go as planned at all... Upon entering my room I saw everyone in my bed sleeping while Riser and Akeno were still at it" Said Issei as he laughed at his misfortune.
Yasaka hugged him tightly as she was deeply disappointed by the girls actions.
"It's alright, it's over now, you have those other girls and friends to help and support you now..." Said Yasaka with a calming voice.
"Valerica saved me from death... I almost died because of a dragon curse which only dragons get when their mates die or betray them and I even activated the juggernaut drive for the second time..." Said Issei.
Yasaka kept hugging for a couple of minutes until Issei suddenly fell asleep.
Yasaka laid Issei down and left him to sleep while she returned to her room, but unknown to them someone overheard their talk.
"He thinks of me as his... daughter?" Whispered Kunou to herself with a smile that quickly disappeared.
"He went through so much...I will help him with everything I got" Said Kunou with determination.
She quickly opened the door to Issei's room and saw him still shedding some tears even when he was asleep. Kunou walked over to him and laid beside him and Issei instinctively wrapped his arms around Kunou while still asleep.
Somehow this helped Issei to stop crying and even made him smile.
The next morning arrived and Issei opened his eyes as the sun shone at his face, feeling someone bwside him he looked down and saw Kunou sleeping with him.
She looked cute asleep. He didn't know why she was in his bed but decided not to wake her up. He slowly got up but Kunou grabbed his wrist while still asleep.
"Dad" Whispered Kunou.
Issei froze upon hearing what Kunou said.
Issei turned his head towards Kunou to see her still sleeping. He smiled and got back into the bed to sleep some more as he let her fluffy tail wrap around his body.
After an hour Issei woke up again but this time Kunou was awake too.
"Morning pumpkin" Said Issei.
"Morning da- Issei" Replied Kunou.
"Not that it bothers me, but why are you here?" Asked Issei.
"Well... I just couldn't sleep last night so I decided to come here..." Replied Kunou.
"I'm sorry I won't do it aga-" Kunou tried to apologize until Issei stopped her.
"It's fine Kunou, don't worry. I understand. If you want to sleep here, you can come and sleep, it's no big deal" Said Issei as he smiled warmly at Kunou.
She immediately hugged Issei out of pure happiness.
Later they went to the living room and saw Yasaka waiting for them to join her for breakfast.
"Morning, you two slept well?" Asked Yasaka.
"Yep like a rock" Said Issei.
"Yes" Replied Kunou.
They sat down and started eating their breakfast.
"By the way, thank you for yesterday" Thanked Issei as he looked at Yasaka.
"It's no problem, I'm just glad that I was able to help you, at least a little" Replied Yasaka with a smile.
They finished their breakfast and Yasaka informed Issei about Sun Wukong's arrival.
"Sun Wukong will arrive about at dinner time so if you want to meet him, return home by then" Said Yasaka.
"Alright, thank you" Thanked Issei as he and Kunou left. Issei and Kunou went for a walk in the forest where a waterfall was located.
"Look! isn't it beautiful?" Asked Kunou.
"Sure is" Replied Issei as he looked at the waterfall as it calmed him a little.
"Hey, you like spending time with me right?' Asked Kunou.
"Of course I do, why are you asking?" Asked confused Issei.
"What if we went to play with my other friends too?" Asked Kunou.
"Well, I don't mind. If you want to we can play with others" Said Issei with a smile.
"Alright then, let's go back to the temple, some kids are living there too!" Said Kunou.
"Why haven't I seen any?" Asked Issei.
"Because they are mostly outside playing" Answer Kunou.
"Makes sense I guess" Said Issei.
As they reached the temple they went around it. Behind the temple was a small beautiful forest with five girls playing.
"Hey!" Shouted Kunou.
Everyone looked at Kunou and saw that she was not alone.
"Hi, Kunou, who's this?" Asked one of the girls.
"He's the Red Dragon Emperor and we came to play" Replied Kunou with joy.
The rest of the girls came too, interested in what they will be playing with the Red Dragon Emperor they heard so much about.
"So what are we playing then?" Asked another girl.
Everyone looked at Issei and saw issei's smile turn into a smirk.
"You better run" Said Issei.
Everyone looked at him confused.
"But why?" Asked Kunou.
"Because this hungry dragon will eat you all!" Roared Issei as he spread his wings and started to run at the girls.
The girls screamed and laughed at the same time as they ran away from Issei. After sometime Issei caught one girl and started to tickle her making her laugh so much that some of the adults heard from behind the windows of the temple.
Those adults were the mothers of the girls.
They saw Issei playing with the girls and made the women smile.
"I caught you! now you're a dragon! you have to help me catch the others too" Said Issei.
"Bhahahah Alright ha ha ha" Said the girl as she still couldn't control her laughter.
Both of them went to search for other girls and after an hour of playing they found all of the girls except for Kunou.
Suddenly the mothers of the girls called for them to come back. The girls said their goodbyes to Issei and left.
"Alright, Kunou! you can come out already!" Called out Issei.
"Kunou?"
"Kunou, come out already! we're done playing!" Shouted Issei but she still hasn't came out. Issei started to panic.
He flew into the sky to look for her from above but once again nothing.
What happened to Kunou? What will Yasaka think of Issei now?
"Partner! you have to focus" Said Ddraig.
"He's right partner, just use that searching skill that you learned from Tiamat" Said Vritra.
"Alright" Replied Issei as he flared his aura. By flaring his aura he can detect the people he needs if he felt their aura once.
Suddenly Issei found Kunou quite far now with five other figures.
Issei descended back onto the ground and used a shadow under a tree to teleport to the location.
As Issei came out of the shadows five figures stopped running in front of him with Kunou in one of the guy's hands with a tape on her mouth.
"Give her back" Said Issei calmly as he held his rage.
"And why should we boy, you better not interfere or you'll die! just get out of our way" Said one of the kidnappers.
"And why do you need the princes?" asked Issei.
"That is none of your damn business you dumbass!" Replied the other.
Issei released his wings and the kidnappers started to fear Issei, because everyone knew that dragons were crazy powerful.
Issei was now boiling with rage. He flared his aura and the group suddenly fell to their knees barely able to breathe except for Kunou.
His aura only affects the ones he wants to be affected. He learned this skill from Fafnir last night.
Issei grabbed Kunou and took the tape away.
"You okay Kunou?" Asked Issei worriedly.
"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry" Replied Kunou with a smile.
Issei then teleported Kunou back into the temple while he stayed.
"Tell me... who is the leader of the Chaos Brigade?" Asked Issei.
"H-how did you find out!?"
"Well that's kind of their style" Replied Issei.
"So answer my question now"
"We won't tell you!" Shouted one of them.
"Wrong answer" Said Issei with a mixed voice of his and Ddraig's and burned him to ash with Ddraig's flames which burned him slowly while he was screaming in agony, good thing Issei put a barrier around them.
Everyone now trembled out of pure fear.
"I'll ask again. Who is the leader?"
"P-please don't kill us! we'll tell you! just have mercy" Said the other guy.
"Spill it" Said Issei.
"I-its Rizevim Livan Lucifer" Replied the guy.
Issei's paused momentarily from shock.
"... What do you mean Lucifer?" Asked Issei.
"We accidentally found out from Cao Cao the other day, he is a pure-blood satan class devil who was believed to be killed by the White Dragon Empress long ago as she used her sacred gear to kill him when she was a child, but he faked his death as she wasn't strong enough as a kid to actually kill him, he is her grandfather" Replied the guy.
'Grandfather? ...was he the one...Valerica told me about a month ago?' Though issei.
About a month ago Valerica told Issei that she had a grandfather who killed her parents and tortured her just because her father fell in love with a human woman and gave birth to a hybrid.
"What is he planning to do?" Asked issei.
"We don't know, we are low ranked there, so they don't tell us everything, we were only lucky enough to find out who the leader is" Said the other guy.
"Alright, I'll spare you because you gave me valuable information" Said Issei giving hope to the pests.
The brigade members sighted thinking they dodged a bullet there.
"So I shall kill you painlessly" Said Issei as chains of shadows wrapped around them.
"Wha-" They tried to stop Issei but it was too late he froze them In ice and with a dragon shot obliterated them with no trace of them even existing.
Issei sighed and teleported back to the temple.
(To be continued)