I own nothing but my OC(s).

Chapter 17: Sisters Reconciliation

"Hello Shirone, nya." Kuroka said softly.

The white haired Rook flinched slightly, but other than that, she didn't move. She was looking at her older sister intently, as if she was waiting for her to drop the façade and attempt to kill everyone.

Nobody said anything, looking between the two sisters curiously.

"So, would you two like to talk?" Until Keith broke the silence. "I am more than sure that you are curious at what your sister has to say, aren't you Koneko?"

Her only response was a small nod.

The human then looked at Kuroka, only for his eyes to soften when he saw her trembling slightly.

'So she is afraid of what her sister might say to her.' He thought to himself.

"I…" The Black Cat hesitated. "Shirone… I…"

"Koneko." The white haired Rook interrupted her. "My name is Koneko." She was almost defiant of her own birthname.

"I see." Kuroka's ears flattened against her head in sadness.

With a sigh, Keith grabbed her hand and directed her towards the room he and Koneko were previously inside.

The Satans looked among themselves confused, while Rias quickly came close to her peerage member.

"Is there a problem Kuroka?" Keith asked gently. He knew he needed to be patient and understanding when it came to problems like these. The poor woman was probably terrified of being judged by her own sister.

"She hates me." The half-Youkai half-Devil responded, looking at the floor.

"I don't think she does." He shook his head.

"I saw it in her eyes, plus I could feel it through her Senjutsu." The young man could see that it affected her quite a lot since she was not using her trademark 'nya' anymore.

"I believe she is merely confused and does not know how to interact with you anymore. I mean, there has been quite some time since you two saw each other." He tried to reason.

"That's not it!" She raised her voice. Thankfully the room was soundproof. "She doesn't want me near her! She barely looked at me! She even revoked her own birthname." At this point the dam has broken and tears began to fall. "She, she doesn't want me back in her life." She began to tremble more and more as she choked and sobbed.

Keith acted immediately by wrapping her in a gentle hug. She instantly hugged him back, crying in his chest as he softly rubbed her back.

"Shh, everything will be okay Kuroka. Don't worry. Everything will work out in the end." He whispered gently in her ear. He could feel his shirt getting wet but he didn't care one bit about it. "Let it all out."

They stood like that for a few more minutes until Kuroka managed to calm down.

"We could go back to Kyoto and –" He tried to offer.

"No!" But she immediately turned him down. "No…not when I have the chance to talk with Shirone."

"Very well. Are you ready?"

Taking a few calming breaths, Kuroka nodded, determined to have her sister back.

"Stay here. I will tell her to come." Before leaving, he looked at her over his shoulder. "Kuroka." Gaining her attention, he continued. "Do no forget that she is not the only one who suffered. You are as much of a victim as her. Perhaps even more so." He smiled warmly at her. "You did what you thought was right and best for your family. Never let yourself believe otherwise."

Him smile was contagious because the cat Youkai was now sporting a small smile as well. Gone were her sad frown and sorrowful expression.

"Thank you Kei-kun, nya." She said. "I don't know how will I be able to repay you for this, nya."

He shook his head. "No need Kuroka." He raised a hand to stop her from protesting, the continued. "I did this because I wanted to. Nothing more, nothing less." With this, he opened the door and looked at Koneko.

"She is ready to talk with you." He told her.

Without saying anything, the young Rook stood up from the chair she was sitting on and made her way to Keith.

"Don't forget, she suffered as well." He told her softly when she passed him.

He didn't know whether Koneko heard him or not since she didn't show it, but after she entered the room, he closed the door and looked at the Devils and Dragon in the room.

"Will they be able to reconcile?" Serafall asked.

"I hope they do, but all depends on them." He told her.

After she entered the room, Koneko could see her sister looking at the floor.

She took a seat a few meters away from her, her eyes not living her sister's form.

"Why are you here?" The Rook asked, narrowing her eyes slightly, but quickly softened her expression when Kuroka looked at her with glassy eyes.

'She had been crying.' Koneko thought.

"Um, I am happy to see you Shi – uh – Koneko-chan, nya." The name felt weird in her mouth. She offered her a weak, small smile. "I missed you very much, you know, nya?"

The white haired girl tightened her hands into fists.

"You missed me?" She asked softly. "Then why weren't you there?!" She all but yelled, seemingly forgetting the fact that Keith already told her the reasons. "You left me by myself against the Devils!"

"I, I did not want to!" She tried to yell back, but it came as a weak, soft scream. "I didn't have a choice. After the Devils swarmed the place, I tried to attract as many as I could so you would be able to run away."

"The human told me that you saw when Sirzechs defended me." Koneko sneered. "Why didn't you interfere?"

Kuroka could feel her eyes become wet again.

"Because they would have executed me on the spot." She responded, eyeing the floor again. "At that time, I believed that you would have been safer with him than with me." She looked at her.

"So you just wanted to get rid of me then?" Koneko asked.

"What? No!" Kuroka shot up from the sofa she was sitting. "Of course not! You are my dear little sister whom I love very much!"

"Sure you do. You love me so much that you never bothered to visit me." The Rook scoffed. "You have no idea what I went through after Sirzechs brought me to his home. All the judgemental stares filled with disgust and fear."

"Why didn't you ever come to visit me?" Her tone was now softer. Of course, Keith told her already, but she wanted to hear it from her.

"I couldn't." Kuroka's was the same. "I was banished from the Underworld. If I were to set foot here again, it would have taken the Devils very little time to find me."

"Did you ever try at least?" Koneko's eyes now had a glint of hope in them.

"I did, on a lot of occasions actually." Kuroka nodded. "However, the closest I could ever get was to only see you. If I were to interact with you and be seen by someone, then I think you can imagine that the outcome wouldn't have been pretty."

Calming down, Koneko got up and made her way towards her sister.

Kuroka couldn't kelp herself but feel tense when she did that.

"Tell me what happened." Koneko requested softly.

With a heavy sigh, Kuroka began to tell her everything. From Aster's experimentation and torture to the day they were separated from each other. Koneko listened intently and could feel her heart ache when her sister began to sob and choke recalling the horrible days when she was used as a guinea pig by their master. She let her know about his methods: from using different weird substances to mental torture and more.

Koneko could only stare in horror as her sister retold everything she endured. At some point the young Rook couldn't stand seeing her sister crying, so she quickly hugged her, hiding her head in her chest.

'She suffered as well.' She could hear Keith's words in her mind. Truly she did suffer, but Koneko had no idea how much.

"I knew there were going to be consequences after I killed him, but when he said that he was going to use you in his experiments, I lost it." She said, anger now replaced the sorrow. "I could not let him do that. I told him to use me so he could let you alone. He promised to me! But I should have known that his words meant nothing." She scoffed derisively.

"I am sorry Shirone-chan." She said after a few moments of silence. "I know you must have felt betrayed when I didn't come for you, but I hope you understand that I did it so you could be safe."

Koneko looked at her, then did something which surprised Kuroka: she smiled a warm smile.

"You have suffered a lot, didn't you?" She asked gently, feeling her sister beginning to tremble. "I never thought about that." She confessed. "But hearing you now and seeing you, I realize I have been such a big fool."

"No Shirone, I-"

"Please Onee-sama." Kuroka widened her eyes. "I was a fool by thinking that I was the only one who suffered, when you did all that for me." She said sadly. "I am sorry. I never thought about the way you must have felt when we got separated." She looked in her eyes. "And for that I am sorry."

Kuroka couldn't hold it in anymore and with a loud sobbing scream, she wrapped Koneko in a tight hug, squishing her head between her breasts.

She was screaming her name and crying, all while rubbing her cheek with her own.

"O-Onee-sama!" She blushed as Kuroka rubbed their cheeks together.

"Oh, is my little Shirone-chan embarrassed, nya?" She teased lightly, then her expression became hopeful. "D-Does this mean you forgive me?"

"Hmm…maybe? I don't really know…" Koneko took a thinking pose.

"W-What? But you apologized and even called me 'Onee-sama'." Kuroka tried to reason. "Please, I will do anything!"

She immediately realized she was being teased when her little sister began to giggle softly.

"This was pay back." Koneko smiled. "But you will do anything huh?"

"W-Wait! This isn't fair, nya! You cannot tease your older sister like that, nya!"

"So you will go back on your word?" She faked sadness.

"NO!" Kuroka shouted, flailing her arms.

"Great, then tell me what does Keith-san mean to you?" Koneko asked curiously.

"Huh?"

"I can see he cares for you." Koneko said. "He was the one who planned all of this, wasn't he?"

Kuroka's eyes softened and she smiled.

"Yeah, he was, nya." She nodded. "A while ago he and Kunou-chan saved a nun, nya." She looked at Koneko warmly. "The one who came after her was an Angel who she considered her brother and he his sister. It made me feel down knowing that you were not there with me and that you probably hated me, so I locked myself in my room, nya."

Koneko didn't say anything, but this only added to how bad she felt about believing that her sister didn't suffer as much as she did.

"When Kei-kun came I told him to go away, nya." She remembered fondly. "Of course he didn't. He was very patient with me and after I let him inside, we talked or rather I told him about my past and he comforted me, nya."

All this time while she spoke, Koneko saw a blush on her sister's face.

"You like him." She stated.

Kuroka widened her eyes.

"I…" She looked bashful. "I do, nya."

"He was nothing but kind to me and him being the handsome man that he is certainly didn't help me not developing feelings for him, nya." Kuroka wasn't one to shy away from admitting to like someone, however it was more difficult now since the person holding her affections was already in a relationship. Of course that didn't mean she would ignore her feelings, no, far from it actually. She would find the perfect moment to confess and see what happens. She would need to talk with Kunou in that regard though.

"He seems like a good man." Koneko smiled.

"He certainly is, nya." Kuroka nodded, a sliver of pink still on her cheeks.

The two sat in silence until Kuroka decided to ask something.

"Does this mean you are forgiving me, nya?" She asked hopefully, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Only if you forgive me for my ignorance Onee-sama." Koneko replied. In an instant, she was crushed in a bear hug.

"Of course Shirone-chan, nya!"

"C-Can't b-breath!" She tried to push herself away from her sister's tight embrace.

"Ahah, sorry." Kuroka rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Let's go Onee-sama." She grabbed her hand and directed themselves out of the room.

When the two went out, they could already see eyes staring at them.

"Are you two fine?" Keith asked with a smile, noticing the two holding hands, knowing already that everything was fine.

"Better than ever." Kuroka replied, raising their clutched hands.

"Yay!" Serafall immediately brought the two of them in a tight hug. "I am so happy for you two!"

"Thank you Leviathan-sama." Koneko said.

"Levia-tan." Serafall pouted. "Call me Levia-tan."

"I don't think we can do that, nya." Kuroka replied carefully. The last thing they wanted was an upset magical girl. "But we could call you Serafall-sama if you want."

The pink Satan kept her pout, but in the end she resigned herself and nodded.

Keith smiled at the three in amusement, but then his face became serious.

"What does this mean regarding Aster Naberius's case." He spat the name as if it was a curse.

"Leave that to us." Sirzechs said. "It is the least we could do." His eyes softened when he looked at the two sisters.

"If you need anything from me, do not hesitate to let me know." Keith told him.

"We will talk with the Elders and inform them about everything." Ajuka said. "They will most likely want to see the ones who found this news." He looked at Keith and Tiamat.

"I will not grace those buffoons with my presence." Tiamat growled.

"Why?" Keith asked raising an eyebrow.

"The last time, one had the gall to call me 'a stupid, mindless beast'." She continued growling, then she smirked in satisfaction, rubbing her stomach. "It is safe to say that he is no longer with us."

"Right…" Keith shuddered at her tone. "Very well then. I will join you when the time comes."

"Oh, it will be very soon." Serafall giggled. "These idiots will feel their pride hurt if we tell them that a human found this new evidence."

"Aha…" He trailed off.

"It is becoming late." Falbium yawned. "Wake me up when the old coots decide to call in the case." He couldn't believe he just said 'wake me up'. He then disappeared in a magic circle.

"Falbi-chan is right." Serafall said, then looked at Keith with a seductive smirk. "Say Kei-tan, care to join this sexy lady in her chambers, hmm?" She posed for him.

"No thank you." He replied immediately, seemingly being unaffected by her. Well, being teased by Kunou and Kuroka almost every day, and occasionally by Yasaka, certainly helped him becoming a bit more…hard to persuade when it came to these things.

"E-Eh?!" Serafal exclaimed. "What do you mean no?"

"Um…just…no?" He tilted his head.

"But, but, but…" She then deflated. "Fine…" She mumbled something under her breath about 'this is not over' and vanished the same way Falbium did.

Nobody even saw Kuroka's eyebrow twitch violently, muttering curses under her breath towards the female Satan.

"I need to thank you for this as well Gremory-san." He bowed in gratitude towards her.

"Just Rias, Nakamura-san." She smiled. "And it would have been wrong of me to deny one of my family members the chance to reconnect with their sibling."

"Then, please by all means, call me Keith." He returned her smile.

She then turned to the sisters.

"I believe the two of you will sleep together tonight?"

"Yup!" Kuroka nodded happily, her mood from earlier vanishing.

"If we have to." Koneko drawled, like she had no other choice.

"E-Eh?" Kuroka pouted. "Don't make it sound like that, nya!"

Then she again realized that her little sister was making fun of her.

"Shirone-chan! Stop teasing your older sister, nya!" She demanded playfully. Then the two began giggling together.

"Well then, I wish you a good night." Keith smiled.

"I hope you won't feel too lonely without me Kei-kun, nya." Kuroka teased, winking and smiling seductively at him.

Before he could say anything, the trio teleported via magic.

"I too should rest for the night." Ajuka said. "Good night." He too teleported away.

"Come you two." Sirzechs looked at Keith and Tiamat. "You can rest at my family's house for tonight."

"Are you sure Sirzechs?" The young man asked.

"Of course! There's no problem." He dismissed him with a wave of his hand and then, he, Grayfia, Keith and Tiamat teleported away.

Keith looked in admiration and surprise when they arrived at a huge mansion with the crest of the Gremory family, he supposed.

"Welcome home, Lucifer-sama." Around 40 maids chorused.

'Holy shit. Those are a lot of maids.' Giving a look back at the mansion though, it was self-explanatory.

Then Grayfia immediately began to bark orders to the maids who wasted not even a second more to move.

"Ah son, a pleasure to see you, like always." A man with red hair and blue eyes greeted. He was dressed in a white suit with black on his collar and yellow around his buttons. He also sported a red goatee.

He offered a handshake to which Sirzechs immediately shook.

"I am so happy to see you again my baby boy!" A woman instantly pulled him in a hug. If Keith had to guess these were the parents of both Sirzechs and Rias, but goddamn they sure looked young as hell, especially the mother. She looked like Rias! She had shorter brown hair and violent eyes. She didn't lack in the bust department either since her breasts might as well have been the same size as Kuroka's, but that's something Keith wasn't going to comment about. She was also dressed in a white stylish dress, matching her husband.

"Mom!" The Satan Lucifer groaned in embarrassment, making Keith supress a chuckle while Tiamat actually grinned. It wasn't everyday seeing the strongest Devil being embarrassed by his own mother.

"Tut tut, young man. Let your mother love you." She chided playfully before wrapping him in a hug again.

Keith smiled at the happy family. Some part of him couldn't help but feel melancholic and a little bit jealous remembering when his own mother used to do that.

"Ah, and you must be our guests." The red haired main said with a kind smile. "A pleasure to meet you, I am Zeoticus Gremory, father of Sirzechs and Rias, as well as the Clan Head of the House of Gremory." He offered a handshake to Keith.

"The pleasure is all mine Gremory-san." He took the offered hand and shook it.

"Oh please, just Zeoticus, or Zeo if you want." Then he turned to the dragoness. "And you must be the famed Dragon King Tiamat. An honour to make your acquaintance."

"Of course it is an honour to meet a dragon of my stature!" She puffed her chest in pride, making her boobs giggle.

"Oi!" Keith facepalmed. "That is not how you return a greeting."

"What was that, Keith?" She glared at him. "Do you perhaps want to resume our little skirmish?" She grinned savagely, showing her fangs.

Keith paled, raising his hands in surrender.

"Ah, no, no sorry! I will shut up."

The man of the house chuckled at the two, but was rather curious what she meant by 'skirmish'.

"Welcome to the Gremory territory you two." The gentle voice of Zeoticus's wife greeted them. "When Sirzechs called us, I was quite surprised to have a legendary dragon and the wielder of the True Longinus as guests ufufu." She smiled. "My name is Venelana Gremory, the lady of the house, as well as the mother of Sirzechs and Rias."

"Oh and the same as my husband, please call me Venelana." She continued after she curtsied.

"Of course Venelana-san." Keith bowed. "A pleasure to meet you."

Tiamat merely nodded in greeting.

"Please come in, your beds are ready." She motioned for them to get inside.

"Thank you for your hospitality." The human bowed. Tiamat didn't as much as flinch and made her way inside like she owned the place.

"Sorry about her…she's um…" He stopped to find the words.

"Oh it's fine." Venelana giggled, undisturbed by the dragoness's behaviour.

"Mom, dad, I will be in my own room." Sirzechs announced.

"Of course son. We don't want to leave Grayfia waiting now, do we?" Zeoticus smirked as the Satan sputtered and almost stumbled on the stairs he was going.

"Wait…" Keith looked surprised. "Grayfia-san is his wife?"

"Yes." Venelana nodded fondly. "She is such a sweet girl, although I wished sometimes she would be a bit more laid back." She giggled.

"So that means she's quite powerful, huh?"

"She fought with Serafall for the Leviathan title and she was close to winning, but in the end Serafall beat her thanks to her bigger magic reserves." Zeoticus informed him.

"Doesn't being a maid bother her?" Keith asked in confusion. He expected one so powerful as her to work in some other role, like a general or something, not a maid.

"Oh not at all. She loves being one and I must admit, she is the best too." Venelana said. "She is one of my best friends and she is always proud to do her duties as a maid, but as I said, I would have preferred if she didn't take it so seriously all the time."

"Riiight…" He refused to think about it anymore. He was sure now: all powerful beings were weird.

"Anyway, your room is on the right and Tiamat-san's is next door." Zeoticus motioned with one of his hands. "I wish you a good night."

"Good night and don't let the bedbugs bite!" Venelana chuckled as she and her husband bowed and left towards their own chambers.

"Well, good night Tiamat." He didn't expect her to say anything else, but was quite surprised to hear her mumble a 'good night' before entering her own room.

A/N: Yo people! I once again have to apologize for not having any action in this chapter as well and that it is shorter than the rest, but I found it better to break this "arc" if you want to call in in three chapters, well kind of. The next chapter will be more interesting since we will have the confrontation with the Devil Elders ( I know I said that will happen in this one but I decided to end the chapter as I did) and of course some more action! I also decided to end the chapter here because I need to leave somewhere until sometime next week so I do not know if I will be able to write, so I would rather have you have this chapter now than wait until sometime next week. So once again, I apologize if I didn't meet your expectations with these last two chapters, but hopefully the next will somewhat remediate that. And one final apology for this chapter being shorter as well.

Let's check the reviews!

GhostlyDrew: I agree that human MCs are not that widely met since I believe people think that humans are boring (to which I agree to some extent) buuut, I personally love reading/writing human characters dealing with supernatural problems sooo, there's that. I also agree that Cao Cao was a bit meh…but I hope I will be able to make him somewhat enjoyable. I again agree about what you said when they fought Garm. I should have written that a bit better imo, but oh well, I am here to learn to thanks for the feedback!

Rangda: Hmm…I could actually try to write something darker, although I don't really know if I would do a good job, but definitely will give it a try. Also I chose M rating just to be sure ya know? Most fanfictions which had T rating didn't really have much sexual innuendos so yeah, that's that.

hopinhell: I am happy to see you enjoy Keith as a character. I agree with what you said about fanfiction.

Dante687: Hmm…the bust size huh…I don't really know the sizes as in (H, B or whatever), but I will do some research on it lmao that sounds funny xD. If I were to put the women in Keith's harem after their bust size however, the order would be like this: Yasaka, Gabriel, Kuroka/Rossweisse, Tiamat (she is smaller by very little, almost unnoticeable), Kunou, Serafall, Roygun…I think it would come like this? I honestly didn't think about it lol.

Sakra95: Actually thank you for mentioning it cause I wouldn't have probably, but now definitely he will! Appreciate you telling me this. I also wish to thank you about mentioning the apple of Idunn. Definitely a good reward and it actually helps me out! Also…Malebranche? I never heard of them since I didn't read the manga/light novel, but giving a quick search on goggle well… I don't think I will add them since I never knew they existed lol, but in other stories? possibly.

N7 Quartermaster: I am very sorry for what happened and my sincerest condolences to your friend. And the next story will be coming pretty soon I believe. Still need to think of what exactly I want to write.

bored peasant: Yeah, I agree with ya mate. I actually thought whether to use Japanese honorifics when I wrote the Norse mythology part or not. I decided to do it in the end, but meh, probably shouldn't have. Oh well, I do think to drop the honorifics completely in future stories since they can be a bit of a drag to write. I will keep them for this story, but will probably not use them anymore in the future, dunno.

Lamont: I agree. I will definitely try and write something slice of life in the future, just for relaxation ya know?

Well here ya have it ladies and gents! Chapter 17. As I said in the beginning, I apologize if the last two chapters were boring, but I feel like these chapters are necessary for Kuroka to actually develop some romantic feelings for Keith, rather than have her fall for him of out nowhere only cause he's good looking or OP.

Also, while I am away, I will try and start reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians since I do want to write some fanfictions in that universe too! As I said, I am kind of a mythology nerd.

I also apologise if there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes.

Stau safe & sound!