The couple quickly arrived at the building where Apple was still watching over the Kamado, ensuring that everything was safe. There were no other suspicious movements in the surrounding area and the family was fine.
Issei and Cynthia observed their surroundings one last time, using observation haki and aura, and could confirm that there was no risk.
Apple volunteered to keep watch, hoping to grab another snack in case anyone came by, and the sekiryuutei saw no reason to refuse. So the two were finally able to return to their new home.
"We have to ask Uncle to get one of those cell phones for us."
Cynthia commented as soon as the two got close to the house.
"Those things seem useful, but I still think a Den Den Mushi is cooler."
Issei said smiling.
"Fufufu indeed. There are a lot of things that I would still like to bring here, but first, we have to get the proper space."
The sekiryuutei nodded, agreeing with the blonde.
"Yeah, chichici, but one thing at a time. We barely arrived, so let's enjoy!"
He finished saying, making Cynthia smile. It was typical of Issei to be more concerned with enjoying the moment than making excessive plans about the future.
"Indeed, and for now…" Cynthia starts to say, leaning into Issei and having to stand on her tiptoes to barely manage to whisper in his ear.
She didn't have to finish for Issei to know what his girlfriend was thinking. A big ear-to-ear smile spread across the sekiryuutei's face as the two moved to the bathroom.
[I've never been so grateful that Jehovah allowed disconnecting the link with the user...]
Ddraig thought to himself, going unnoticed by Issei as he had already temporarily closed the connection between the two.
[...]
"You did what?!"
Rukia's scream made Ichigo grateful that he had brought her out first before informing her that he explained his identity to his friends. The result was to be expected.
"They are my friends and part of the supernatural, I don't see why not trust them."
The orange-haired spoke, clearly not seeing or caring why Rukia looked worried.
"What are they?"
She asks with her eyes closed.
"Well, I don't know about Cynthia, but Ise-"
"You don't even know what one of them is?!"
The senior shinigami interrupts him in disbelief. As for that matter in particular, Ichigo could understand it as a valid concern on Rukia's part, but one that didn't mean much to him.
"We just didn't have time, besides, the way she talked about it, it sounded complicated, so of course they're going to want more time before going into some more abnormal things, well, abnormal by the standards of... I don't know exactly whose anymore, but yeah. Anyway, I trust them, the two just didn't tell me more because they wanted to give me time to absorb information properly."
Ichigo wasn't an idiot (when it came to Orihime, Tatsuki disagreed with that), he noticed that several points seemed to have been left out of the conversation, but he also understood the couple's reasoning.
Rukia however didn't share that thought, on the contrary, she sighed massaging her forehead.
"Shinigamis shouldn't mix with the other parts of the Supernatural, Ichigo."
The short girl said seriously, to which Ichigo just rolled his eyes.
"Then there's no problem because I'm just a shinigami substitute."
The orange-haired replied with his arms crossed.
Rukia sighed. This whole issue of shinigami substitute was new to both Ichigo and her, so the two's communication was still under work. And having to keep in mind all the time how she was breaking one of Soul Society's laws, and maybe even more than one at this point, didn't help.
"Ichigo, maybe I seem paranoid to you, but you need to understand. Dealing with hollows is not the only function of a shinigami. We guide and guard the souls that are part of this land." She says, referring to Japan. "We care for the world that is referred to by mortals as the afterlife, giving the dead a new place to live in. So tell me, what do you think would be a possible interest for someone to approach one of us?"
Rukia's explanation made Ichigo understand that her concerns weren't random or pure paranoia, and at the same time made him want to laugh at how unnecessary they were in this case.
"If you're worried about them approaching me to invade Soul Society and break the balance between life and death, or whatever, relax. They didn't even know I was a shinigami before I introduced myself."
That made Rukia raise an eyebrow and Ichigo could see that that information seemed to relax her a bit.
"And why didn't you say that before?"
She spoke reproachfully.
"You didn't give it a chance."
And he answered simply while shrugging.
Once again Rukia rolled her eyes, clearly more relaxed.
"Oh yeah, you didn't tell me what your other friend is."
"A dragon."
Ichigo casually mentioned. Rukia looked at the face of her substitute, blinking her eyes a bit.
"Oh yeah, you should have started with that."
She says, causing Ichigo to look confused.
"It's simple, dragons are straightforward. If this friend of yours wanted to invade Soul Society for some soul, he wouldn't go after you, he would just invade. That simple."
The substitute stops and considers. Knowing how direct Issei was, he was able to understand well what Rukia said.
"Yeah, I think I can see that."
Suddenly a sound that resembles a cell phone notification beeps in Rukia's pocket. The two didn't even need to look to know what it was. Time to take care of another hollow.
[...]
It didn't take long, and the next day, Saturday arrived. Issei and Cynthia showed up at Ichigo's house, who in turn called Orihime and Tatsuki. Soon, Nezuko and Tanjiro also joined the group.
And just to ensure Kie's safety, Issei left Apple in the same place as before, to stop the exorcists from attacking the older Kamado.
"Hey, what do you guys think about this movie?"
Orihime asked with stars in her eyes, pointing to a horror movie poster with excessive amounts of blood.
Issei, Cynthia, and Tanjiro looked curious, Tatsuki wasn't surprised, Ichigo just found the poster bland, and only Nezuko looked scared by the poster.
"We've been waiting for this movie for so long!"
And excited at the same time. Her eyes had the same sparkle as Orihime's.
"Chichichi, do you like this kind of movie?"
The sekiryuutei asks the dark-haired one, who in response looks at him with a smile and nods her head frantically.
It didn't take long for them to buy the ticket, luckily Issei and Cynthia had received credit cards with access to the bank account where Marianne's money was. And it was way more than enough.
They took a seat in the end, as Issei's height would likely get in the way of others. The order of the seats was as follows, from left to right Tanjiro, Ichigo, Orihime, Tatsuki, Cynthia, Issei, and Nezuko.
After the movie started it didn't take long for Nezuko to get scared, her first reaction was to hug Issei's arm. And as soon as she realized that she tried to break away, but Issei put his hand on her head and looked at her smiling. The conversation with Cynthia the day before came back to Nezuko's head and quickly making up her mind, she decided to keep her grip on Issei's arm.
And it stayed that way for the rest of the movie. At different times Nezuko's grip was weaker, for example when she was impressed, or stronger, like in more tense scenes.
Her various reactions around the movie amused Issei, who paid more attention to Nezuko than to the movie. Which didn't go unnoticed by the dark-haired one, who felt strangely happy about it.
Not to mention that, even though she loved horror movies, she was still often scared by them, which was one of the reasons she enjoyed watching them. But with Issei, although she still felt the tension from the movie, they didn't make her panic. Maybe it made the movie less scary, but it was a feeling Nezuko appreciated.
And after less than two hours, the movie was over. Ichigo had slept through most of it and for some reason, Orihime had a frustrated expression on her face, while Tatsuki shook her head in disappointment.
Tanjiro just shook his head, feeling bad for Orihime but happy for his sister. And Cynthia also carried a smile, enjoying the whole situation.
"Hm? Nice smell."
Issei spoke, as soon as they left the cinema room.
"What smell Ise?"
Tatsuki asks confused, not smelling anything.
"He must be talking about the food area." Ichigo explains and then thinks to himself. 'Enhanced senses, huh? Is it inconvenient sometimes?'
"But the food area is on the other side of the mall."
Orihime points, confused.
"Huh? But I can also smell it from here."
Tanjiro says, pointing to himself, confused by Orihime's surprise.
"Hehe, anyway, this isn't exactly normal, nii-san."
Nezuko spoke with a weak smile and a shrug.
A gigantic roar was heard among the group, causing everyone to look at Orihime in surprise.
'Damn Hime-chan."
Tatsuki said impressed.
The orange-haired one chuckled as she scratched the back of her head. She didn't look embarrassed but rather had slight blushes on her cheeks.
[...]
"Here Nezuko."
The sekiryuutei says, handing her a bag of sweets. As soon as they reached the food court, Issei noticed Nezuko's intense gaze toward a specific store, and upon seeing what it was he couldn't help but give a slight smile.
"Konpeitos? Did you remember that they are my favorites?"
"Of course."
The answer just made it clear that Issei was paying attention to her, and at the same time that he still had a vivid memory of their times together, even after all these years.
"Thanks."
She answered simply, but her smile said all that was needed.
"Here, it's your favorite too."
Issei also wouldn't forget about Cynthia. He passed her a pudding that made the blonde's eyes gleam at the sight of the pastry.
"Thank you, Ise." She said, practically snatching the pudding from his hand, and then proceeding to grab his left arm. "He's the best, isn't he Nezu-chan?"
For a moment Nezuko didn't know how to react, so she puffed out her heavily pink cheeks, and hugged Issei's right arm.
"Yes!"
She spoke with an embarrassed smile and a face as red as a tomato. And even so, Nezuko felt happy and comfortable in that position, holding Issei's arms.
Tanjiro smiled happily for his sister and Tatsuki had a cocky smile on her face. She would definitely use this to tease Nezuko later on.
Ichigo on the other hand observed something else.
"Orihime, what are you eating?"
He asks with an expression that is a mixture of curiosity and fear. He also leaned his body back slightly, wanting to keep his distance from what Orihime had in her hands.
"This? Pineapple ice cream, but I added some chestnuts and fries. Want to have a taste, Kurosaki-kun?"
Ichigo just smiled and gently declined, despite having a large bead of sweat trickling down his forehead and an expression that made it clear he wanted to stay away from that ice cream.
Tatsuki in turn just looked at the ice cream and sighed, shaking her head. She had already given up trying to understand Orihime's tastes a long time ago.
"That... how they still let you in the ice cream shop?"
The questioning came from Tanjiro, who was stunned.
If Orihime had an answer, she didn't say it, just smiled calmly. Which somehow managed to be even more disconcerting.
At least Issei, Cynthia, and Nezuko were in their own world, happy.
[...]
"Bye Ise, bye Cyn-chan."
"See you on monday."
Nezuko and Tanjiro spoke respectively.
"Thanks for bringing them here."
Kie says, bowing to the couple.
"You don't need to do that Kie-san, but thank you."
Cynthia said, with a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah, it's no big deal."
Issei spoke also smiling.
Light blushes appear on Kie's cheeks when talking to Issei, and she couldn't understand why. Strangely, just being in the brunette's presence seemed to have that effect on her, with no plausible explanation, as far as she knew. Shaking her head and dismissing those questions, she and her son and daughter bid farewell to the brunette and blonde.
Issei and Cynthia walked away from the house, waving to the family. If the Kamado had continued to look at the two, they would have noticed that, suddenly, they both disappeared in the middle of the sidewalk. However, the three had already gone back inside the house, Nezuko even walking around with a smile.
On the other side, on top of the building where the exorcists were the day before were Issei, Cynthia, and Ichigo, already as a Shinigami.
"We're not sure they're going to act today, are we?"
Ichigo asks, looking around intently. He hadn't fought anything other than hollows yet, but he could probably manage.
"No. Sorry, this is probably more complicated for you, right?"
Issei said, knowing that Ichigo was there without Rukia's knowledge and approval. He'd told his dad he'd be sleeping over at a friend's house, so at least that part was clean.
"It's no problem. If Rukia complains I just have to ignore her. What we're doing matters a lot more, doesn't it?"
Issei turned to face the Kamado house, all the while thinking about how happy Nezuko looked today. Happiness that he wanted, would, protect.
"Yes it is."
I kinda had a writing block, that's why I took longer to post. In compensation I am updating all my DxD fics today.
There is a lemon on this chapter, but I am not risking it here. If you want to see it, go to AO3.
We are ending the Kamado arc in the next one or two chapters, and after that we go back to move the focus to the Academy. One or more things might happen along the way, but we are so near to beginning the canon timeline now. Either way, thanks for reading.
Reviews are appreciated.
