Dance With the Devil
After Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved, for if I did there would be a lot more sex.
Review Answer Time
HolyKnight5: Thanks for reminding me. With the turmoil my life has had the past few months I actually forgot about this until you brought it up.
Correnhimself316: Sorry, no. I love that series, but I won't be adding it.
Vld: Oh dear, you read my other fic too, huh? XD
Onishin Tsukitenshi: That was a reference to Vita from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. She calls her friend/older sister figure Signum a "Boob Monster" sometimes.
"You know..." Issei began as he, Asia, Koneko and Lilith walked to the club room after school. "I like the upgrade to my boobielingual," he ignored Koneko's look of disgust at that, "but I was wondering, could you teach me that awesome enter the mind trick you do?"
"NO!" Lilith jumped back, her eyes wide and her arms crossed in an X-shaped pattern. "No! No! No! No! No!" She panted as the three looked at her with wide eyes. "Sorry, not going to happen, nah uh, no way, no how, nada! I refuse to teach it to anyone, even Master isn't allowed to learn it."
"Uh..." The three began, wondering what brought this reaction on.
"Sorry." Lilith took a deep breath to try and calm down. "The mind dive ability puts your mind in direct contact with the other person's mind."
"But we did it before when Issei was being attacked by that Shade." Asia pointed out.
"No, *I* did it before, *YOU* simply came along for the ride." Lilith sighed heavily. "Okay, let me explain. If any of you did the mind dive ability, your minds would merge with the other person's mind and both of you would cease to exist."
"But when Issei-sempai..." Koneko began, only for Lilith to shake her head. "What?"
"Consider this, I'm a very powerful Demon, right?" The three nodded at her. "Even as I am now..." Lilith trailed off, trying to figure out how to put it. "Let's just say that Issei would need far more than ten boosts to come close."
"But didn't Bishamon..."
"Cursed Holy Sword." Lilith cut off Asia. "Besides, I was trying to avoid drawing too much attention my way. Anyway," she waved them off, "you remember how Morrigan felt back when the Khaos Brigade attacked the conference?" They shook their heads and she slapped her forehead. "Sorry, guess none of you were there. Okay, shoot, dunno how to explain it. Anyway, you know that I'm strong, right?" The three nodded at her. "Tell me something, how long were we in Issei's mind?" They all shook their heads, unsure. "Less than a minute. In that short amount of time I burned through most of my available energy."
"So what does that have to do with why you won't teach us the mind dive?" Issei asked, confused.
"I was GETTING to that." Lilith twitched. "If I taught Issei how to do the mind dive and he tried jumping into Rias's mind, the two minds would instantly merge together, and that doesn't even factor Ddrag into the equation."
"I think you're underestimating my partner." Ddrag joined the conversation. "Surely it wouldn't be that bad."
"No, I'm not." Lilith shook her head. "Issei doesn't have a strong enough of an Ego to survive such a thing. And by Ego, I mean a sense of self, not an arrogant attitude."
"And you do?" Issei tilted his head.
"Succubus, remember? I have a naturally strong Ego, plus my kind has other defenses to keep my mind from merging with someone else's mind." Lilith waved him off. "And just to understand how bad it would be, picture Issei doing a mind dive with Rias, okay?" The three nodded. "His mind and Rias's would meld together completely. First thing that would happen is that Issei's body would die as there would be no more brain activity." The three gulped heavily. "Then Issei and Rias's minds would fight for control in Rias's body. If Issei's mind won, then he'd be Rias and Rias would be gone forever."
"WHAT?!" The three and Ddrag all yelled at the same time.
"Yep." Lilith nodded at their shocked and disturbed expressions. "And if Rias won, she'd have some of Issei's traits, namely being a bit more perverted, but Issei would cease to exist. You couldn't even be reborn in a new life."
"On second thought, I DON'T want to learn the mind dive." Issei shuddered, it wasn't worth it. "Wait, you risk that EVERY time you do one of those?"
"Yep." Lilith gave him a tight smile. "It drains a lot of energy, which is why my kind typically only does it in an emergency or to give our targets a really nice dream while we absorb their sexual energy."
"Um, does that apply to reading a mind?" Asia asked, nervous about Issei's abilities.
"Huh? Oh, no, go hog wild with that. You aren't merging your mind with your target's, you're just hearing what they're thinking." Lilith waved that off. "If you think of the mind like a swimming pool, mind reading is just looking into the pool, maybe sticking your ears against the water while mind diving is going head first into the deep end of the pool with a lead suit on if you don't know what you're doing."
"Got it, no mind diving." Issei said, getting nods from Koneko and Asia.
"Besides, it's not as much fun to go into a mind as you think. It's always so gray and boring until you trip a memory or something."
(-)
Meanwhile...
Azazel looked at the business that used to be Ucchan's and sighed in annoyance. 'Looks like Ranma was right.' He thought to himself. The place had been packed up and cleaned out to such a degree that he was honestly impressed. The only thing that let him know that this place had even been used in the first place was the fact that there was no dust and debris on the floor or on the tables. "It sure can't be cheap to open a business, run it for a few days, then close up shop like that." Then again, he suspected that it might not be too hard, all they'd need would be a food cart and they could sell food across the country anywhere.
As he walked through the empty building, Azazel wondered, not for the first time, why this Ukyo person would do what she did. "This isn't the action of a jilted lover and I don't know of too many Hunters that act like this. What is going on?"
Azazel wondered if maybe it was time to bring the various Devil Hunter clans into the fold and form an alliance with them. 'Hmm, not just them, I'd probably have to make that alliance with Magical Girls as well, won't I?' Both were risky propositions, but he was tired of the constant fighting in the Moonlight World and he was sure that there was more than a few Hunters and Magical Girls in Japan who would love to not have to worry about if supernatural forces were going to eat their loved ones.
Still, such a thing was risky so long as the Khaos Brigade was running around and causing problems. Especially with a powerful Devil like Jedah being in a position of power and capable of ordering the Hero Faction around.
"Oh well, nothing in life worth doing is easy." Azazel smirked as he walked upstairs. "Besides, even if we help propose it and get the various leaders and factions to agree, it'll be on the next generation of Devils, Angels and the like to make it work."
Thinking about stuff like that actually made him somewhat sad, that his generation hadn't been able to make peace until very recently. Sure, the Devils had their own problems and the Angels had to deal with the fallout of God's death and his faction wasn't really in any position to try and attempt peace either.
"You look deep in thought." A female voice spoke up and Azazel blinked as he saw a familiar blue-haired Devil in the room he had just entered. "I was checking in on the city and saw you."
"So you broke into this place and waited for me upstairs?" Azazel raised an eyebrow at the large breasted woman. "What would you have done if I didn't come upstairs?"
"Take a nap." She giggled as he snorted. "So tell me, what are you thinking of?"
"Just thinking that the stalemate between Heaven, Hell and the Grigori did more harm to the Moonlight World than we all first realized." It was easy to ignore it back then when all three sides not only had to worry about the other two, but also other pantheons trying to jump in and eliminate them. "I just wonder how many Devil Hunter clans came into being simply because we couldn't make peace with each other."
"More than were probably needed." She nodded at him. "And thanks to centuries of the supernatural acting like savages towards humans..."
Azazel sighed and nodded. "I'd love to fix this, but there's so many scattered across Japan alone."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much right now." She smiled at him. "You do look stressed though."
"A bit, why do you ask?"
She smiled at him and walked over to the bed. "I'm feeling a bit hungry, care to feed me?"
Azazel snorted, he knew what she meant by that too. "Well, I'm not one to let a lady starve when she requests a meal." He said as he walked over to the bed. Besides, he wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to get laid if someone was offering it.
(-)
Meanwhile...
"So that's what happened in Kyoto and since you got back, huh?" Cologne asked Ranma as he, Kunou, Ravel and Atsuko sat at the counter, eating some ramen. "I'm surprised you were nearly killed if you fought the Hero Faction and survived."
"So you know them?" Ranma asked the old woman, who nodded.
"Indeed, they've made a name for themselves as freelance mercenaries that hunt down the supernatural." Cologne shook her head. "A dangerous group, if they're a part of the Khaos Brigade it's even worse. I'll send a letter back to the village to warn them of this development."
"I'm surprised that you have no problem with me being here," Ravel admitted, blushing as Cologne looked at her, "I mean with my distant cousin being an enemy of your tribe and all that."
"You came here in peace, have made no aggressive gestures towards anyone and you show respect to your elders." She cackled, enjoying the way that Kunou and Ravel cringed at her laughter. "No, girl, your cousin was a threat to everyone in the Jusendo Valley when he was fully awakened and causing problems. Most of the time he stayed up on the mountain with the rest of his people and just acted like a powerful old radiator and hot water heater since winter got pretty cold up there."
"We go kill wayward hunter now, yes?" Shampoo said as she cleaned the floor before sighing. "Sorry, I mean, do we go track down who tried to kill you and deal with her?"
"You're getting better with your Japanese." Ranma commented but shook his head. "No, I... I'm not sure if dealing with her like that is a good idea or not."
"She tried to kill you." Ravel pointed out. "I'm sure that she has no problems with doing it again."
"Irina and Issei met after years of separation and were enemies when they met up again," Ranma pointed out, "your enemy today may be your ally tomorrow, but not if you kill them."
"Well said," Cologne nodded at him, "however..."
"I know, I know, if fighting I have no problem killing someone to defend myself or others." Ranma cut her off. "However, I don't think Ukyo's a bad person. From what she was saying, it sounds like she got bad information about what happened in Kyoto a few years ago."
"And due to the fact that she already was training to kill you because you basically left her at the altar," Atsuko gave Ranma a wide grin as he rolled his eyes, "plus the fact that you're bonded with Lilith..."
"Yeah, I'm guessing that she put all those things together and came to the conclusion that I'm a monster that delights in killing people." Ranma sighed, shaking his head. "So I don't blame her for thinking that I need to be put down." After all, sometimes Youkai and Demons became drunk on their own power for one reason or another and had to be put down before they became too big of a problem. "Doesn't help that I admitted that I'd revive those bastards that tried to kill Kunou just to kill them all over again if I could."
"Defending one's family is important." Cologne nodded to him. "I, for one, do not blame you. I've killed my fair share of people who threatened my family in my life. One must make sure that they take no pleasure from the taking of another's life."
"No worries there." Ranma shook his head. "I don't like to kill if I can help it."
"Daddy..." Kunou looked at him. "You're not a monster. Monsters delight in the suffering of others, you're not one of them."
Smiling, Ranma reached over and ruffled her hair. "Thanks, kiddo. Ready to go?" She nodded and Ranma pulled out some money and paid for the food. "Thanks, Old Ghoul."
There was a cracking sound and Ranma found himself flying to the door, which Shampoo was holding open so he didn't break it, and out into the street. "Thank you, come again." Shampoo waved at Ranma as he flew past her.
"Hmph! No respect." Cologne grumbled, though there was some amusement in her voice.
"...I still don't know how you did that." Atsuko muttered in amazement. "I've seen you do it before but I still can't follow it."
Cologne just smiled.
(-)
The next day...
Ranma tilted his head as he, Lilith, Kunou and Ravel made their way to the school. "What's with the limo?" He asked himself more than the other two, knowing they wouldn't know either.
When the back door opened up and Ranma and Lilith saw who got out, they instantly knew things were going to get stupid.
"Ah! My eyes doth not decieve me! The Foul Demon Saotome and the Angel of my Dreams are, indeed here!" Tatewaki Kuno loudly proclaimed as he got out of the limo.
"Who's this lunatic?" Kunou asked as she saw the tall boy and shuddered, something about him made her feel like using Fox Fire on him in an attempt to make him go away and then taking a hot shower afterwords to clean herself.
Ranma laughed as Kunou figured out Tatewaki in one moment. "That... Is Tatewaki Kuno, an idiot who thinks he's destined to defeat me or something, I never really could figure him out."
"...Wait! Is he the idiot that Nabiki was complaining about having the same name as me?!" Kunou gasped as she looked at him.
"Hmm? And who is this little fox?" Tatewaki asked, causing Ranma and Lilith to look at him weirdly. "Please, Saotome, I am no fool, surely anyone with a lick of sense can tell she is hiding her ears and tails."
"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU FIGURE THAT OUT WHEN YOU CALL ME AN ANGEL!?" Lilith yelled, shocked that Tatewaki could figure out who Kunou was.
"Brother, dear, are you telling them lies?" Kodachi said as she got out of the limo after Tatewaki. She looked at the little fox girl and smiled. "Ah, the daughter of the Youkai Association's leader."
"...And how the HELL do you know that?!" Lilith yelped, glad that people were only paying them a cursory glance instead of paying attention.
"As much as it pains me to owe that man anything, our father knows about this stuff and left pictures and information back home." Tatewaki grumbled as he thought about his father.
Lilith just twitched, before she began to rub her temples. "Oh, so this is what an aneurysm feels like."
"Just a heads up," Ranma said to the two teens. "Kunou is an innocent: start a fight here, you don't leave here."
"Agreed," said Kodachi. "I would never involve such a cute little one in my usual antics ...though I cannot speak for my brother."
"OH COME ON!" cried Lilith. "You call a kid, 'cute', everyone is fine. I do it, and they start trying to kill me!"
"Because you're an evil sex Demon." Ranma pointed out, getting a pout from Lilith. "Anyway, what are you two doing here? Don't you have school?"
"We took today off because," Kodachi looked troubled and Ranma tilted his head in confusion, "Akane Tendo has been missing for months now! She's my first and only friend and she's been gone for so long! Where did she go?"
"We had hoped that the fierce tigress's elder sister would be able to know, since she knows everything it seems like." Tatewaki grumbled before sighing. "I would... Be inclined to put aside our past differences if you would help us."
Ranma stared, shocked. "Did you just offer to bury the hatchet?"
"Not in the slightest!" Tatewaki bellowed at him. "You are still an evil Demon that needs to be put down and when I, the Blue Thunder of Furikan!" A blue crack of lightning tore across the sky at that moment, "do so, surely Heaven will reward me!"
"...No, I'm sure that Heaven won't reward you, in fact, I'm sure that Heaven will probably try to punish you." A new voice spoke up and Kuno looked past Ranma to see a girl with long twin pigtails and blue eyes glaring at him. "In fact, I can guarantee that Saint Michael would never reward someone who threatens my friends. And if you think that I would wish to be friends with someone who makes me want to find a Longinus and smack you upside the head with it, forget it!" She turned to the brown-haired boy that was next to her. "In fact, Issei, can you use Boosted Gear and punch him in the face?"
"Wouldn't that be a grievous misuse of its power?" Issei asked, wondering how he was being pulled into this. "Sure, he's..." Issei tilted his head. "Okay, he's got this face that just screams 'punch me! Punch me!' but I don't think it would be a good idea to do so."
Lilith just shook her head. "Why is it before a fight breaks out, Heaven is always somehow involved?"
"Can we please focus on saving Akane?" asked a tired Kodachi. "Brother-dear, you can continue this pissing contest or whatever the male euphemism for this situation is, later. But first, we must work on saving Akane."
"...Fine," Tatewaki grumbled, before he stared at Irina. "And I shall not forget this affront to my honor, Demoness!"
"...Dude seriously needs his eyes and meds checked," grumbled Lilith, as Irina reacted in shock to being called ...a Demoness.
"He figures out that I'm a Fox Youkai but he calls Irina a Demoness?" Kunou muttered to herself.
"HEY!" Issei yelled at Tatewaki. "Don't call Irina that! Apologize right now!"
Ranma just sighed as Tatewaki and Issei started to get into it. "Oh..." His eyes widened and he grabbed Lilith and Kunou and stepped away. "Let's get out of here before we get into trouble."
The two blinked before looking where Ranma was looking and gulped. Seeing an angry Sona Sitori coming their way was not something they wanted to deal with.
(-)
Several minutes later in the Student Council Room...
"So..." Sona said, her face calm, other than the twitching of her eyebrow. "You came to Kuoh City because you were looking for someone who had transferred to this school and you needed some information from her?" Both Tatewaki and Kodachi nodded. "Because Akane Tendo disappeared?" They nodded again. "Did you file a police report?" They nodded again. "I see... So why in the nine levels of Hell did you decide it was smart to cause a commotion in front of the school?"
"My apologies." Kodachi spoke up. "Brother-dear means well, but he is... A little, shall we say, overly enthusiastic at times."
"Lovely." Sona muttered before looking at Nabiki, who had been brought in when she got to school. "Well?"
"Last I heard, my sister went on an extended training trip to further her martial arts studies." Nabiki told them. "Her trainer is incredibly unorthodox and only takes people that they find interesting." Nabiki really wished that she could tell them what she knew, but that would raise so many questions and there was no need to have that come out. "As far as I know, Akane's both unhurt and still alive." Though it had been awhile since Nabiki had checked on her sister.
"Truly?" Kodachi looked at her seriously. "You mean it?"
"I'm many things, Kodachi, heartless towards my family is one thing I'm not." Nabiki crossed her arms under her breasts and gave the girl a stern look. "I promise you, if something bad happens to Akane, I'll make sure that you're among the first to know."
"Thank you." She smiled in relief.
"That's good and all, however," Sona looked at Tatewaki with narrowed eyes, "there's the fact that you were causing problems at this school. Considering that there was no violence, though it certainly felt like it was about to become violent, I'd be willing to ignore it so long as the two of you leave the school grounds immediately." She didn't care if they stayed in the city, but she didn't want to deal with them. 'Besides, something about them makes me want to violently murder them and I have no idea why.' It didn't make sense to her, even when she was around Issei and his two friends before Issei's reveal as the Red Dragon Emperor came to light, she never wanted to hurt them permanently.
These two, however, made her want to hurt them. 'But why?'
"Very well," Kodachi nodded to her. "Come along, brother-dearest, if you stay I will not allow any of the Kuno family funds to be used to pay for your hospital stay."
Nabiki sighed as they left. "Sorry about that, I should have looked in on them to make sure that they wouldn't get too insane after my sister disappeared."
"It's fine, you can't control everything." Sona replied to her. "But are you okay with your sister missing?"
"Nope, but I know that the police will never find her." Nabiki shook her head. "If you're curious, just know that my sister got pulled headfirst into our world without any sort of warning beforehand."
"Lovely." Sona sighed, wondering what would happen next.
(-)
After getting into the limo and ordering the driver to leave, Kodachi pursed her lips. "I am... Concerned."
"About the firey tigress?"
"Yes, but beyond her, there were plenty of people at this school that just... Bothered me for some reason." Kodachi couldn't put her finger on it, there was something that was seriously annoying her about this place and she wanted to get away from it. "It was after that girl you called a Demoness appeared. You felt it too, huh?"
"Yes." Tatewaki nodded and leaned back. "I wonder why. The last time I felt this annoyed by someone when I just met them, it was the foul Demon Saotome."
"If I may," the driver spoke up through the open window, "perhaps you should talk to your father? It has been a long time since you saw him, has it not?"
Both of them grimaced, but nodded.
(-)
There was a ringing in his pocket. Reaching in and pulling out his phone, he raised an eyebrow at the number. "Hello?"
"Hello, father..."
"Ah! Mah sweet wahinine! It's been so long dat da big kahuna thought you no longa wanna see him."
"Father, please, you can talk normally with me."
"What does daddy's sweet wahinine want?"
"Can we talk at home? I want to gather my thoughts and something unusual has come up."
"Ah, very well, da big kahuna will return in three days if mah little wahinine wishes it!"
"Thank you."
After he hung up the phone, he looked at the old man across from him giving him an amused look. "What?"
"Nothing, oh big kahuna."
The man snorted at the old man. "For your information, Son Wukong, those two are my kids, never had much aptitude for my powers and I had no interest in having to deal with my enemies trying to use them against me."
"So you put a seal on their powers then?" The old Monkey King raised an eyebrow as he took a puff of his pipe. "That's unlike you, Indra."
"Never needed to before, they never manifested anything resembling my powers before." The wargod snorted and walked off. "Well, it doesn't matter, does it? Perhaps their powers are finally waking up and they need some guidance."
"Should I tell Azazel you don't plan on killing the Red Dragon Emperor then?" Wukong asked, getting a snort from Indra.
"Just tell him that so long as he keeps the brat in line then I got no problem letting that punk live." Indra waved him off as he left.
Son Wukong shook his head. "Well, never knew the boss had kids before."
So no one saw THAT one coming, even though if you look up Indra on the DxD wiki he looks almost like Principal Kuno, plus his domains are rain, thunder and lightning. And it rains a lot in Nerima, Kuno is the Blue Thunder, so...
It fits, funny enough.
Next Chapter: BRING ON THE SMOKED HAM!
This is literally the only time I will do a next chapter preview.