And what comes after

Took longer than I thought, but I am back, and hopefully so are the weekly chapters

It has been a while, but reviews:

Techgabe:

Chapter 5. Lol, finally. I thought people would point that out a long while ago, but everyone seemed unfased by it. Thank you very much for noticing, lol. And to answer, it is one of the Leviathan fruits abilities. My line of logic was that the Leviathan in this case represents natural disasters, storms, tornados and so on, you can see so by Issei's powerset. Quakes seemed like a natural thing to add.

Chapter 10. That's good to know, I put a lot on that chapter, and I am glad the result is just what I was seeking.

Chapter 18. Here is more, hope you enjoy it. Thank you very much for the reviews!

It was the smell of food that made Nezuko wake up. She opened her eyes and lifted her upper body while looking around, feeling better and more rested than usual.

She didn't recognize her surroundings, which should have been a bad sign, but she strangely felt a sense of security about that place.

On her right side was her brother and on the left was her mother, both of who woke up soon after.

"Mom! Nii-san!"

She grabbed them in a hug, taking both by surprise since they were still waking up.

"Nezu-chan? What-"

And then all the memories of before they went to sleep came back, or at least in Kie's case before she was put under the influence of the Eyes of Terror. They remembered the two men who suddenly appeared in the middle of their house, threatened them, and pointed guns at them.

"Yo, you guys woke up!

It was Issei's voice that brought them out of their thoughts. The three looked at him in amazement, seeing that Cynthia and Ichigo, with strange clothes and a ridiculously large sword on his back, were beside the brunette.

"What is happening?"

Tanjiro asked completely confused.

The sekiryuutei, the blonde, and the substitute shinigami faced each other.

"It is complicated."

Ichigo said, scratching the back of his head. The three knew there was a lot of explaining to do.

[...]

The stunned looks of the Kamado family made the trio of Issei, Cynthia, and Ichigo remember the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words. The family still hadn't said anything, but it could already be seen that they had hundreds, if not more, of questions.

"That's... quite a lot."

Kie was stunned at how much information had suddenly been revealed to her family, and most importantly, the type of things she learned about.

"Yeah, I reacted like that too."

Ichigo spoke sympathetically. He was the one who best understood what the three of them were going through at that moment.

"We are not... human?"

Nezuko's look and expression were just one of confusion. It wasn't like the information had changed the way she felt or anything like that, after all, through all effects and causes, she both felt and knew that she was still the same.

"Our father descended from an Oni?"

And Tanjiro was in a similar situation to his sister. Dazed and confused, but overall ok. As ok as someone that had his life threatened hours ago could be, though all happened so fast that he didn't even associate it.

"From what we could gather, yes."

Cynthia stated with a nod.

"And that's why they..."

Kie didn't finish speaking but grabbed Nezuko and Tanjiro in a hug. She didn't need to say anything.

As quick as they had been, the memories of what had happened earlier still troubled her.

"What happened to those two?"

Tanjiro asked after taking a deep breath.

"They won't hurt you anymore."

Issei's response was automatic. Nezuko and Kie felt reassured by his words, while Tanjiro nodded his head.

"They're still alive, aren't they?"

Issei, Cynthia, and Ichigo faced each other and looked at Tanjiro.

"We still need answers."

The orange-haired clarified.

"So you still haven't questioned them, huh?"

"Indeed."

Cynthia confirmed after Tanjiro asked.

Hearing his questions, Nezuko and Kie were visibly cornered, but Tanjiro sighs and gets up.

"I'll go with you."

From the way he spoke it very clearly wasn't a question. Once again the supernatural trio faced each other in a silent and quick discussion. Honestly, the three of them were out of their comfort zone.

"Are you sure?"

Issei asked, wanting to see a resolute confirmation from Tanjiro.

The son of the Kamado family once again took a deep breath and nodded.

"I need to understand..."

It was all he said and all he needed to say. Especially because they could understand the feeling of suddenly having something completely new and surreal thrown at you and wanting to understand it. With Issei, it had been his Leviathan powers, and with Ichigo, his position as a Shinigami Substitute.

"Nii-san!"

"Tanjiro!"

Nezuko and Kie, however, didn't see it that way.

"Don't worry, they are no longer a danger. We guarantee it."

Cynthia's words made them feel better, but it was inevitable that the fear would be there.

"I'll stay here while they go ask the questions."

Issei spoke, sitting down on the floor. Even if it was consciously or not that Kie and Nezuko's shoulders relaxed, it became clear that the Sekiryuutei should stay for the two to feel safe.

"It's not dangerous, right?"

Kie asked once more, hugging her daughter.

"No danger."

The confidence in Ichigo's voice would have to be enough.

[...]

"Who are you?"

Both Ichigo and Tanjiro were surprised at how emotionless Cynthia's voice was.

'I don't know how used to interrogating others she is, but she seems to know what to do.'

The knife the blonde held against one of the exorcists helped a little with the process. The exorcists were tied, and not by a normal rope, but by some material that Ichigo tried to cut and couldn't. And if they tried to use their powers, it was apparently for nothing, since they were both still trapped here.

"Exorcists."

The shadow user replied, trying to pretend calm, but the sweat running down his forehead said the opposite.

"Renegades."

Ichigo added, wanting to see if he would get a reaction. And indeed he did.

"What do you freaks know?!"

The only thing that bothered Ichigo in that entire speech was the fact that the man spoke screaming, annoying his ears.

"You tried to kill my family!"

But it was only natural that Tanjiro wouldn't take it so calmly.

"As it should have been done a long time ago!"

As soon as he said that, he was presented with the tip of the knife in front of his eye. A single move from Cynthia and he'd be one-eyed, or worse.

"They are innocent people, practically civilians. Why?"

Perhaps Ichigo's question alone wasn't that intimidating, but his heavy sword pointed at the exorcist did the job.

"They are descendants of Onis, but there's something else, isn't there?"

Cynthia spoke, pulling the knife back a little, giving him room to speak.

"Huh, so you got that much together at least. But why should I say anything?"

In the next instant, he saw his own death. His head was cut off by the knife, without any ceremony, a quick and painless death. A chill ran down the exorcist's spine and his body was covered in cold sweat.

His eyes were wide and his pupils dilated. It had only been a vision, the result of Cynthia manifesting her killing intent.

"Do you want to start talking now?"

And her voice sounded more frightening in the exorcists' ears now.

"Y-yes..."

[...]

"Dragons are so cool!"

At the moment Issei was demonstrating his powers over water, manipulating it in many different ways, making the liquid take various forms like sculptures.

Nezuko looked excited, any distraction, even more so from Issei, was welcome.

"So, your father is a dragon? Or your mother?"

Curiosity also came from Kie, who was still slowly getting used to how surreal her current situation was.

Issei stopped to think a little before saying anything after all the answer was too complicated and the last thing they needed now was to have to explain about the Straw Hats and pirates who could travel between different worlds.

"My father has dragon powers." Which wasn't a lie since Luffy had taken Kaido's fruit years ago. "But it's more complicated than that. One day I'll explain better."

He or Cynthia, and it would probably be her since he wasn't so confident in his ability to explain their situation coherently.

"I understand..."

It was hard to imagine since Kie had no point of reference for what the supernatural world was like. Imagining a world where all the supernatural creatures she'd heard about in myth and legend, and probably thousands, if not more, of others she'd never heard of, were real was a scary thought.

And it was not easy to think that, most likely, now this would be her world, the type of world Nezuko and Tanjiro had been thrown out of nowhere. Worry and trepidation filled Kie. If the two had already been put under attack before they learned of their parentage, what would happen now?

"Are you ok?"

But before she can get lost in those thoughts, Issei's worried and curious voice reaches her.

"Just a little scared, because, well, I don't know what's going to happen now."

She had a weak, nervous smile as she said that. It was strange to open up in that way to someone her son's age, but Issei made her feel comfortable to do so.

"But I know what's going to happen."

Kie and Nezuko looked at him, not exactly surprised by his attitude as they already started to expect this kind of thing from Issei, but curious as to what he would say.

"And what will happen?"

Even Kie was surprised by the hopeful note in her voice.

"Whatever you want."

Mother and daughter waited for him to elaborate, but noticing that he wasn't going to, they tilt their heads showing curiosity. Just then Issei realizes they don't understand and goes further.

"Not to brag, but I'm pretty strong. So whatever you want to do, keep living like before or join the supernatural, I'll do my best to make sure you will be just fine."

As Issei spoke, he patted Nezuko's head and looked at Kie with a peaceful smile.

Mother and daughter stared at each other and then Nezuko hugged him tightly and Kie took the dragon's hand.

"Thanks."

When Cynthia, Ichigo, and Tanjiro returned, they noticed that Nezuko and Kie felt calmer and safer.

"What did you find, nii-san?"

None of the three knew how to begin the explanation, and they were surprised that it was Nezuko who took the lead in the matter.

Ichigo and Cynthia looked at Tanjiro, who nodded his head. He had to be the one to explain this.

"We are not only descendants of Onis, at least not of any Onis." The older Kamado started to explain, scratching the back of his head. "Apparently, our lineage is stronger, better with magic, and so on."

Hearing this, the leviathan and the mother-daughter pair furrowed their eyebrows.

"That's..."

"Vague."

Issei started and Nezuko finished.

The others nod in agreement, not exactly a lot of information despite having some value.

"It's what we have."

Tanjiro speaks with a sigh.

"They... attacked us just because of that?"

Hearing his sister's question, Tanjiro didn't say anything else, just sighed.

Nezuko bit her lower lip anxiously. The idea that her family was put in danger just because she was part of a bloodline of supernatural creatures, which she had just found out about, who were perhaps a little stronger than normal was hard to wrap her head around.

She was just calm because of Issei, and yet, it was all surreal to understand in such a short amount of time.

"I will contact Susanoo, he will know what to do with them."

Cynthia declared, leaving to contact the god of storms.

"I need to check something, I should be away for a few hours, but I'll be right back."

Ichigo, on the other hand, had his responsibilities as a Shinigami Substitute, and judging from how his cell phone was ringing, Rukia probably had a lot of things to talk about.

Also, since they didn't want to burden the Kamados with a lot of different information at once the explanations of what exactly Ichigo was dealing with would come later. They gave the general picture for the three of them, that he dealt with spirits and monsters, but left out certain details, like the term Shinigami.

"Tanjiro?"

Issei called out to his friend, both to find out what he was going to do and to see if he was okay.

"I'm fine, but I need to sleep... it's been a long day."

He didn't show it before because of adrenaline, but now Tanjiro was visually exhausted. He would probably fall on the bed in the guest room and pass out for hours straight.

Issei was considering what he should do at the moment when he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Ise-kun, you don't mind if we stay here with you, right?"

Nezuko asked, this time not looking away from his face, but looking directly into the leviathan's eyes, even though she was red with embarrassment. She was also holding her mother's hand, who surprisingly had the same question.

Smiling, Issei affectionately pats Nezuko's head.

"Stay as much as you want."

With Issei's confirmation, and even encouragement, Nezuko felt bold, and ignoring her burning face, sat on his lap, who only widened his smile and continued to stroke the Oni descendant's dark hair.

Kie sat next to them, with his little finger resting against Issei's. Neither of them said anything about it, sometimes certain things just don't need to be said.

This ends the Kamado arc, next will just wrap somethings, but they will finally be at Kuoh Academy. In 2 to 3 chapters we will start with the canon timeline, that will be severely modified as you might imagine.

As said before, I will try to go back to the weekly updates and organize myself a bit better to post more frequently, tho I am still not making promises. I kinda have a new idea involving DxD, and obviously Issei, but I didn't want to post a bunch of new stories so I am not sure if that will come anytime soon or not, tho it has good chances that it will. That's also why I am trying to organize myself to post more.

Either way, hope you enjoyed the chapter and the developments with Kie and Nezuko. Reviews are appreciated.