Gods and Devils and Wild Horses, Oh My

by Vimesenthusiast

Ranma leaves after the events with Saffron to find a cure. Thinking he might have he heads to Rome and instead winds up adopting Asia, and getting introduced to the world of the Threeway War. Being his usual self Ranma befriends Asia and fights off the Fallen. Ranma and a few new friends will enter this conflict and make their mark. Paring: Ranma/Rias/Saeko-hotd/Gabriel

6. Swan, Crow and Unforseen Revelations

I don't own Highschool DxD or Ranma 1/2, I actually know what romance means.

I would like to thank ultimaflare0 for his looking over this chapter for me. Hopefully since it is a smaller chapter than most of my works, we have caught most of the mistakes in it, but no promises.

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Chapter 6: Swan, Crow, and Unforeseen Revelations

Looking at the number appearing on the screen Kiba smiled as he picked up the phone. "Tsubaki-san, how are you? Are we still on for our date Saturday night?"

"Um, actually Kiba-kun, it's sort of about a topic that touches on that which I needed to talk to you about." Tsubaki said, sounding somewhat off to Kiba's ears. She sounded both confused, worried, shocked, and something else, apprehensive maybe? "Um, as you know Sona-san has been having me looking into Ranma and his past, especially since I thought he looked familiar."

A cold feeling began to grow in Kiba's guts, though he didn't really know why. "Yeeees?"

"Um, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just, um, well rip it off like a Band-Aid. My family apparently ran into his father, Genma his name is, at one point. We helped Ranma regain his senses after some kind of training, my parents were rather close-mouthed about what sort. Genma couldn't pay for our aid though, and, long story short, Ranma's… my fiancé."

For a moment Kiba couldn't believe his ears, there was just something not computing with what Tsubaki had just said. Then his face blanked, though his voice didn't change overmuch. "I'm sorry," he said almost pleasantly. "What did you just say?"

OOOOOOO

As soon as he walked into their home, Ranma found himself ambushed by Asia, who was suddenly hugging his side fit to never let go. He sighed faintly, shaking his head. This was the other aspect of telling people about the Neko-ken that he didn't like. Not that they didn't believe him or wanted to take advantage of him, that was the first. The second part was pity and sympathy. He didn't want the first, and honestly the second made him really uncomfortable.

Nevermind the fact that most soft emotions make me feel uncomfortable sometimes, Ranma thought to himself, I'm getting better at that.

Ranma put his arms around his adopted little sister, returning the hug gently before picking Asia up in a princess carry over to the small foldout futon that doubled as their sofa for now. Sitting down with Asia in his lap, he asked softly, "Do you want to talk about it Asia? I take it mom told you about the Neko-ken training?"

Asia slowly nodded, her head moving up and down against his chest before she pushed back slightly off Ranma's chest to look into his face. "I, I went to school as normal, and I tried to concentrate, but I couldn't, I couldn't get it out of my head. I prayed last night and this morning trying to find a reason, to find an answer as to why someone would do that to a young boy. I was, I was told to always believe that people had a good side, but I, I can't…"

Shaking his head, gently Ranma pushed the younger girl's hair out of her face. "Asia, it was just my old man being my old man. He was never one to think things through, never one to really see past his own desires, isn't that one of those seven deadly sins things? But ooh boy did that get us both into trouble a lot, heh, though I will say I have some of the same issues."

"Gluttony and desire," the girl said grimly, her face firming in an unusual way for her.

Ranma nodded. "That's the one. As to your being taught that there is good in everyone, Genma did do some good here and there. Not enough to offset what he did to me, at least in my opinion, but I won't say he was evil just misguided I suppose."

He then sighed, shaking his head. "Asia, my old man's done so much sh-er stuff, over the years. So much to me, the neko-ken is one of the major ones, and a lot to other people too like Ukyo. I'm not going to say I forgave him for it, but I don't hate him. Not really, I mean it would just be a waste of energy really. So I don't want you to hate him either, if anything I don't when you think about them at all, he's not worth it."

Asia stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded her head. "I will pray again, only this time I will pray for his soul." Then she faltered a little shaking her head. "though I think that might take more praying than I can do on my own."

"Thata a girl!" Ranma said with a laugh, pulling her back into a hug. "Now, you want to watch a movie or something?"

The two of them spent the rest of the evening and well into the night cuddling on the sofa, with Saeko and Ranma helping Asia and one another with their schoolwork at the same time as they watched an anime series that Asia had gotten into recently called Digimon.

Ranma helping her with her history lessons, as well as the language section, while Saeko was very good in math and science. Saeko had to leave shortly after, heading out to a dinner with her new teammates, but she left with a smile on her face at how well Ranma had dealt with the younger girl's anxiety.

That night, Asia knelt beside her bed, her hands clasped in front of her with her small cross between them as she prayed for the soul of Genma Saotome to find its way back to the light.

OOOOOOO

Gabriel sat in a chair in heaven staring down at a few birds passing by well below her current vantage point, tilting her head slightly to one side as a smile appeared on her face. As one of the archangels, Gabriel could attune herself to the prayers of the faithful, and hear them wherever she was in heaven with just a bit of effort. Gabriel had that ability tuned so well that she could hear those she had special interest in praying even if she wasn't watching them or listening out for them in particular.

So she heard Asia's prayer now, and had heard the snippets of it the evening before. Those snippets hadn't made much sense, because the girl was basically crying as she was praying, and her words didn't come through very well. That had made Gabriel anxious, and the only thing that had made her not overreact was that she could feel no fear or apprehension in Asia's prayer for herself.

Now however Asia's words were very clear, and Gabriel heard what had caused the gentle girl so much distress. Hearing that someone had used cats, a species of God's creation she had always been fond of, to torture a young boy, her angelic features firmed noticeably. Without another thought Gabriel got to her feet, grabbed up her sword and began moving through the halls of heaven. Arriving at the Hall of God she swiftly moved to the teleportation array located in a small alcove there.

Looking up from the throne of God, Michael cocked his head quizzically for a moment. "Hello sister, you look like you're in a hurry. Off to go train?" All angels and archangels had to train occasionally, and the surviving archangels were quite religious about it.

"Oh, I'm just heading out to dispense some justice. I'll be back in a bit." Gabriel said in her normal airy tone of voice as she stepped into the teleportation array.

Michael had already looked away, staring out of a nearby window as he heard more of the prayers of the faithful, which he always did in the background here. "That's nice." He paused, the words he had just heard in person percolating slowly in his mind over the sound of the prayers. Then he turned quickly, his eyes widening. "Wait, what?"

But by that point, Gabriel had already been teleported away. "Well… drat."

OOOOOOO

Gabriel was one of the most powerful archangels, the near-equivalent of a Satan in power. She could not appear on Earth in all of her glory, the Earth was simply not up to facing that kind of power any longer. The Devils opted for devices that could limit their powers artificially. This allowed them to appear on Earth far more easily and practically anywhere they wished.

The archangels however had to mentally and physically lock their own powers away through chants during the teleportation itself. Because of this, and the teleportation being not one of their own spells but a magical array, they had to appear in the Vatican itself in a specially prepared area.

As she did so, Gabriel's voice reverberated through heaven and the Vatican itself as she began to materialize there.

I Am The Herald Who Brings Forth His Teachings To All The Corners Of The World. I Am The Waters Which Wipe Away All Sins.

I Am Gabriel, Archangel of the Message.

And My Light Illuminates The Path To Redemption.

As her chant finished Gabriel stepped forward from the special magic array in the room reserved for visitations in the Vatican. Her diaphanous silk robe billowed around her, her sword immaculate belted with a simple rope belt at her waist. The blade had a simple appearance but perfect proportions, the hilt unmarred by anything but a single feather design on the pommel.

The simple clothing could not take anything away from Gabriel's beauty, in fact they only served to enhance it. Golden sun kissed hair flowed down Gabriel's back in rich, bouncing curls. Her body's proportions and form were so gorgeous they would put any mere mortal to shame, her skin pristine and white, with the glow of health and vitality obvious. The smile on her beautiful face which was dominated by her light blue eyes, was kind, gentle, and yet if you look at it somewhat airheaded if the viewer was honest about it.

As she exited the room, the workers of the Vatican who had felt her arrival went to one knee as she passed, and she shook her head slightly. "No," she said simply. "The only being who deserves such adoration is God, not we his children. Rise."

By the time she finished that, a small group of bishops and exorcists had appeared around the corridor. They heard the final words of her comment, and stopped themselves from going to one knee with difficulty in most cases, they were after all old men. "Our apologies your holiness, we had not anticipated your prompt arrival to our distress." Said one of the exorcists, getting the words out so fast she earned a glare of censure from the surrounding bishops.

Gabriel shook her head. "Again, I am merely a servant of the Holy, not the Holy himself. Please do not bow your heads to me, brothers, sisters. For are we not all children of the same Father?" With a faint smile on her face Gabriel moved forward, and the archbishops and exorcists, despite her words about how equal they might be gave way before her quickly.

Then she stopped, looking at the one who had spoken, a rather tall blue haired girl. "Wait, what distress?"

"You mean you aren't here for, that is, my lady Gabriel." the girl began after glancing at her superiors, gathering herself quickly. "May I ask the purpose of your visit?"

"Oh I'm just off to Japan to deal out some justice," Gabriel said, smiling slightly. "Nothing major, though I might swing by to see a young girl who has caught my interest of late." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she stared around shaking her head but not saying the words she really, really wanted to aloud.

Michael at least was right in that, there had to be a firm belief that the church was in the right: that it spoke for God. If there was no such thing as that, the entire Faith might crumble. She didn't like that, but she was used to weighing her words, she was after all the Herald of God, the archangel of the message who went before the host, spreading His word.

With that she turned and walked away, then frowned and stopped looking back again, remembering the other half of that bit of conversation. "Why did you think I was here?"

All of the church officials around her stared at one another, hoping that the most senior among them would speak up and thereby saving the rest the archangel's attention. Even after the chant feeling Gabriel's eyes on you took a far more courageous soul than any of these old men could profess to be.

So again, it fell to one of the young exorcists to speak up. The girl next to the blue haired girl held up her hand. "The, the holy sword Excalibur has been stolen milady. We have no idea how, but we were just about to leave to start tracking them down."

Gabriel frowned, one hand dropping to the hilt of her sword, and suddenly no one there had any reason to doubt that this was a warrior maiden who had stood against the hordes of hell in war between the Devils and heaven. There was just something about her that screamed purpose now. "That is both strange and not a good sign at all."

She moved forward again, gesturing the two young exercise's to follow her, unmindful of the fact that she was breaking from tradition by not speaking to the bishops or archbishops. The two of them looked at their superiors, who all looked a little aghast but nodded their heads gesturing the two girls to follow her.

"Would you like to view the scene of the crime milady?"

"Why would I do that? I am not one of Heaven's hunters or trackers. I something of a scout true, but not in that manner. Still, you can tell me the particulars, I will give you my opinion about the matter if you like?"

The two exorcists did so, describing how all of the exorcists on duty, including brethren from one of the Holy Orders, had been slaughtered without the alarm being raised. At first they had feared it was an inside job, and they still did somewhat. But the slaughter of the defenders spoke of something else being involved too.

That got Gabriel's full attention once more, and she sighed faintly turning aside from her march through the Vatican. "I suppose you should indeed show me the scene then."

The two exorcists were slightly put off by the slightly petulant, pouting tone Gabriel used she said that, but when they entered the sight of the crime, deep inside the Vatican's basements, Gabriel's expression again changed from her normal airy manner into a serious one. "This was done by one of the Fallen," she said definitively. "One whose magic I've felt a time or two in the past. It will take me time to remember who, but tell me, you said you had begun to track them. Do you know where they are headed?"

"They seem to be somewhere in Japan milady, if they kept to the itinerary of the ship we tracked them to. We fear that they have hidden among the Devils there."

"Oh!" Gabriel said, smiling and clapping her hands lightly. "That is indeed divine providence. Because I already have a few reasons to head to Japan." With that she marched off again, forcing the two exorcists to hurry to catch up from their startled surprise at her words and the suddenness of her movement.

They caught up to her just as she reached the public section of the Vatican, and one of them made bold to run in front of her. "Wait, Lady Gabriel, you can't go out like that!"

Gabriel stopped, frowning and looking down at herself, then nodded. "Ah of course, you're right." She closed her eyes, and a shimmering white light appeared around her coming from her wrists and passing up her body before going back down her form. When it ended, Gabriel stood there without her wings. Her features were noticeably also more human, without the ethereal glow about them or the perfection of her form. She could still put most models to shame, but she at the least looked human. "There," she said happily, "that should do."

The girls looked at one another, trying to come up with the words to tell Gabriel that maybe she was still a little too perfect, her body just a little too beautiful. But before they could speak again Gabriel was off.

"Wait!" They both shouted, braving damnation for touching one of the most holy archangels by grabbing at Gabriel's shoulders and holding her back. "You can't go out like that you're still missing clothing."

Gabriel turned to look at them quizzically. "What's wrong with my clothing?"

The girls looked at one another, then to the still beyond beautiful woman, and then down at the gold embroidered silk toga she wore, and the blade at her side. "This might take a while to explain…" the shorter one said hesitantly.

OOOOOOO

"That was Gabriel!" shouted a high-pitched feminine voice, it's owner jumping up and down place as she stared at an older man, whose features were close enough to the girl's own that it was obvious they were related somehow. "She's somewhere on earth now, I have to go find her and challenge her again. There can only be on true idol among the Three Factions!"

"Wait!" the man shouted, but the girl, who was dressed like a Sailor Moon magical girl knockoff, wasn't listening, and had already teleported away. "Damn it. Someone get me the phone, I need to talk to Sirzechs."

The young girl wasn't the only one who had sensed the splash of Holy power. Elsewhere in Hell Maou Sirzechs Lucifer groaned, leaning back in his chair at his desk as he felt the magic, and like the young-seeming girl, realized who it was.

While Gabriel was in no way one of the more dangerous archangels, she was still an archangel. She wasn't going to go out of her way to pick fights. In fact he'd lay odds she just had a desire to go see a play or sightsee, Gabriel had done that kind of thing before, though admittedly not in the last hundred years. But her presence was going to make keeping his own faction from jumping the gun very difficult, as it always did.

I wanted to go visit my sister in and find out why she's been asking questions about Jusenkyou and the Nerima Danger Zone, but no, the next crisis had to appear! I envision hours upon hours upon hours of meetings now. With that thought Lucifer fell forward, banging his head on his desk as Grayfia his wife/queen/secretary/minder came in, her face serious having felt the same splash of power. "Why the hell did I ever take this job anyway!?"

OOOOOOO

The next morning found Kiba waiting for Ranma near where Ranma usually landed as he hopped down from the rooftops around the school. He looked up as Ranma arrived, carrying Asia on his back with Saeko bouncing next to him, the two of them looking nothing so much like humanoid shaped jumping jacks as they made their way over the rooftops.

He waited until Saeko had led the younger girl inside, waited until Ranma was clearly not following them and was about to turn away. He noticed his king for the first time that morning also, moving towards martial artist smiling at Ranma. "You're not going to participate in classes today either? You're going to fall behind you know."

"Not with my mom and Saeko-chan both on my case," Ranma reply drolly, before dropping his voice so they couldn't be overheard. "But the police wanted me to stop by and write up a report on what I think happened with that murder we talked about, and I hoped to tell them about what you told me. Don't worry, I won't mention your name or anything, just say I had to think about it for a bit longer before it clicked in my head or something like that."

Rias frowned, but nodded after making certain no one else had overheard Ranma's words. "All right, so long as they don't find out about me and my peerage, that's fine. And just so you know, I've already figured out how to help you train to activate your curse on your own rather than with water."

"Great, I'll see you this weekend then."

Rias nodded and thinking the conversation was over Kiba quickly moved to stand in front of Ranma. "Ranma Saotome, there appears to be an issue of honor between us." he said formally.

"Excuse me?" Ranma said, looking at the other boy askance both for his tone and the words.

Then he had to dodge as Kiba unleashed a sword thrust towards his chest from his bokken, reminding Ranma almost a little too much of another bokken wielding boy for a second. "Enemy of women! How dare you live with Saeko-san, how dare you lead her on when you are already off engaged to Tsubaki-san!"

There was a lot of exclamations going on about how the Prince had just attacked the newcomer but as his shouted words reached the crowd the girls who made up the majority of the crowd all began to scowled at one another wondering what was going on. The newcomer hadn't given them that kind of vibe, and Saeko of course would never need someone else to defend her honor from Ranma but even so it was the Prince saying it, so…

"Damn it, seriously!" shouted Mahotama. "He's got Rias and Saeko interested in him, and he's engaged to Tsubaki, one of the student council hotties! Come on, leave some of the girls for the rest of us!"

"Don't forget Asia or Koneko, he's friendly with both of them too!" roared Matsuda.

"The dream…" Issei muttered shaking and pale as he dropped to his knees. "He has achieved the dream of all men before I could! Damn you!" He howled to the heavens. "Why must you taunt me so!?"

The nearest girls almost absentmindedly beat the three perverts down before going back to watching the drama.

"Who?" Ranma asked blankly, almost absentmindedly dodging another attack. His fist lashed out at near-knight level speed, and Kiba was forced to backpedal, but he countered by going low with a slash towards Ranma's legs as he opened the range. Then he nearly found himself catapulted through the air as Ranma mule kicked him from midair after jumping over the attack. Only Kiba's quickly raising the hilt to protect his face stopped him from getting a bloody nose at the very least.

"You know very well who, Tsubaki is the vice-president of the student council! How dare you act like you can't remember your own fiancé! I have no idea why you haven't seen her in years but there is no way you would forget one of her beauty and grace!"

To one side Sona was looking at her queen quizzically as Tsubaki blushed more for Kiba's words than the fact Ranma and she were apparently engaged. A lot of other girls in the crowd also turned to look at her, even a few of Sona's peerage. Their expressions ranged from surprise to horror, taking Kiba's declaration there and his defense of her honor as a sign that the two of them were dating, thus taking the Prince off the market.

Ranma shook his head weaving in midair around a series of cuts and swipes that were coming at him faster and faster, almost dancing on air for a moment as he did. "Dude, I've said something like 30 to 40 words to her since I arrived here, if that. What the hell are you talking about?" Smelling a Genma Issue™ in the works Ranma continued to simply dodge, not striking back.

After Kiba finished explaining, Ranma frowned thinking back through his memories. "If I was younger than seven or six or so, I don't think I'll remember her clearly, sorry. Not only was that a while ago, but I suffered quite a few concussions at that point. And if my old man and her family engaged us to one another, well that's their problem, not mine. Given all the families my old man arranged that crap with none of them have any real validity."

"Wait," Kiba said, pausing his attack, having not actually heard about Ranma's troubles with multiple women before this. "What do you mean more fiancées?"

Looking around at their audience Ranma shrugged then explained what Genma had done over the course of the training trip. Kiba subsided while the girls within hearing range all began to scowl and mutter imprecations at Genma. Kiba was still very angry that apparently Tsubaki was still engaged Ranma, but that didn't seem to be Ranma's fault.

The story was overheard by practically everyone who had yet to enter the school building, including Rias, the entirety of Sona's peerage, and Akeno. The black-haired girl who was covered now with an illusion charm of her normal Yamato Nadeshiko appearance while the real Akeno was down on her knees, holding her sides in laughter at the chaos that was Ranma's life and the trouble that Kiba had just inadvertently landed himself in.

However the girls around them had something else on their minds. "K-Kiba-kun," said one of them, stuttering and looking as if her heart was breaking. "Does, does this mean that you and Tsubaki-sama are, are dating?"

Suddenly realizing how many people were around him Kiba hesitated, looking toward a blushing Tsubaki, while Sona next to him was simply shaking her head, kneading a spot between her eyes. The girls around him saw that look, and the blushing Tsubaki, and screamed "NO!" as one.

The three perverts had recovered from their beating by this point and reacted somewhat more positively to this new. "Yes, that mean's Kiba can't monopolize the oppai anymore!" Shouted Issei, high-fiving his friends. "With him off the board we might have a chance with some of the others." None of the trio bothered to notice the gagging sounds from all around them as those who heard him reacted to that news.

Looking around at the crying girls Kiba sighed, before looking over as Ranma's hand landed on his shoulder. "Better you than me man."

Shaking his head Ranma moved off leaving Kiba to try and deal with the crying girls after waving at Rias and the still chuckling Akeno. At least someone finds my life amusing. He was about to jump away when Rias reached out, touching his arm lightly. "Ranma, I have to tell you I told Koneko about your neko-ken troubles last night. She was most upset about it just as we were, and didn't even feel up to coming to school today."

The redhead pulled Ranma around so they were face to face, speaking softly despite Akeno having covered all three with a small illusion spell to ward off the interest of the students around them. "I know at least part of why you were wary about sharing it with us, and I know we haven't known you very long, but we do care. When she confronts you about it, please try to listen without running away. Can you promise me that?"

Ranma nodded slowly, a warm smile crossing his face, his blue eyes shining merrily as he looked at the slightly shorter girl. "You really care for your friends don't ya Rias? Not very devil-like I gotta say, ya sure ya don't come from the other side?"

Blushing rosily at the honest compliment and the effect of Ranma's smile on her, Rias shook her head laughing aloud and releasing his arm. After another wave she watched on as Ranma leaped to the nearest rooftop and away. Turning around she saw Akeno watching her with a knowing look in her face. "W, What?"

"Oh nothing, just… observing." Akeno laughed throatily before moving away quickly. "He doesn't seem like my type, but I suppose the kind, wild but impossibly dense type would fit you as an anime otaku very well, wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean by that? Wait, don't just walk away, Akeno!" Rias scowled, following after her best friend quickly while Akeno walked as fast as she could toward the school still giggling to herself.

OOOOOOO

On Friday Ranma showed up at school and actually attended too, spending most of the time with Saeko since she would be leaving that afternoon to head to her family's home to touch base with her father. He had no issue with her staying with Ranma or where she was going with her life in general, but that didn't stop him from feeling a bit of what Nodoka had called 'empty nest syndrome' when he called the morning before.

During lunch he saw Koneko, but she didn't try to get close to him like she normally would, instead speaking quietly to Asia for most of the meal. Ranma thought they were touching base about their responses to the neko-ken, but wasn't certain. Instead he found himself engrossed with a discussion about ninja techniques of all things with Saeko, Rias and surprisingly Akeno too. Rias apparently really liked the idea of ninjas and loved the fact that Ranma had run into not only several ninjas, but a lot of their styles and weapons.

After school, Ranma made to leave, knowing that Saeko was busy with her kendo kohai first thing this afternoon, but was stopped by a soft voice speaking up from behind a tree. "Ranma-senpai, can I talk to you?"

Turning he saw Koneko. Beside him Asia turned as well to look at the girl. After a moment Asia smiled pushing at Ranma's side gently. "I'll be fine Ranma-nii, go on. I'll stay with Saeko-san."

Nodding Ranma turned back to Koneko who took his hand, pulling him along.

When Rias had told Koneko about what had been done to Ranma she had cried herself hoarse, and had to spend a full day recovering. She had woken up this morning however wanting to help the sunshine boy to get over his fear, and not just because she hated how he had looked so fearful around Shampoo-neko. It was obvious that his fear bothered Ranma just as much as it did Koneko, so she hoped he would accept her help.

Ranma found himself pulled through the school grounds to the old school building where Rias had told him she had set up her family's base of operations using the Occult Research Club as their cover. Most of the old building was still abandoned, but solid, and on the second floor was the club's meeting room, a very nice area with its own small kitchenette, two soft looking sofas, and a few other pieces of furniture.

What dominated Ranma's thoughts the moment they entered the room however was the fact there was a small bathroom also attached to the main sitting area. He knew this because thought the door to said bathroom was closed, the sound of a shower was audible as they entered. He could also see a very busty silhouette on the other side of the glass door, the image moving in such a way it was obvious she was washing herself.

It stopped after a moment, and someone moaned in pain, before Rias pushed the door open, walking out as naked as the day she was born. Her breasts stood up proudly on her chest, capped with perfect pretty pink nipples, her hair plastered to her back, shoulders and forehead as she as she began to towel off her hair her eyes closed as she worked. That was as much as Ranma could stand to see before he turned around rapidly, his face nearly as red as Rias' hair.

"Ugh, Akeno is that you, gah maybe this idea of getting into shape isn't so good an idea, my shoulders are screaming at me and my stomach and leg muscles aren't any better. By the seven levels of hell I wasn't this sore when I first had my monthly!" Rias moaned, pulling the towel out of her face and making to drop it, only now looking up. "Oh, hello Koneko, Ranma…"

Seeing the martial, artist's back to her Rias smirked, wrapping her towel around her body as she stepped forward intent on teasing the remarkably naïve martial artist. "What's the matter Ranma, see something you like?"

Rias came up directly behind Ranma, pressing her chest into his back as her arms went around him, her lips by his ear. "Come now Ranma, I have nothing to be embarrassed about, I enjoy it when people look at me, especially from someone I actually like." She frowned as those last few words came out, realizing they had come a little too close to her real feelings to be part of her tease.

Thankfully Ranma didn't notice that slip, instead pointedly covering his eyes. "I take back my comment about you being an angel, you're defiantly a damn devil, a succubus for sure!"

Giggling Rias pulled away, heading over to one of the sofas as Koneko pulled Ranma further into the room to sit on the other one. Despite her sudden good mood however, she couldn't stop a groan of pain from escaping as she sat down.

That at least got Ranma to look at her again, and he did so frowning as he noticed how her body seemed to be twitching. "What the heck did you do to yourself Rias?"

Rias blushed, looking away but Koneko, somewhat irritated that Rias had taken Ranma's attention away from her for the moment. "She was following some anime training regimen."

"Oh, which one?"

A glare from Rias tried its best to stop Koneko from answering, but Koneko answered despite her king's obvious irritation. "It was taken from One Punch Man."

Ranma laughed turning back to Rias with a smile on his face. "Really? I love that anime, I thought it was hilarious, though the manga is a little better. Then again, I can't take any combat oriented manga or anime too seriously really."

"You watch anime Ranma?" Rias asked, her eyes going wide and a hopeful smile appearing on her face as Koneko's usually impassive expression grew tiny downward tick of the mouth to denote a pout. "Which is your favorite?"

"One Piece definitely, I love the world, though the main character needs a brain to really be interesting outside his fights, the whole meat, meat, meat thing irritates me too. You?"

"For Shounen anime, definitely Naruto." Rias said authoritatively. "I love the fights, though I do have a problem with the female characters, I don't think any of them are really up to snuff."

Ranma didn't even notice Rias being clad in only a towel at this point. Well he did, he just was trying very, very hard not to think about it. Or the fact that he had already seen more of Rias than he had of Saeko, who he knew was, sort of, becoming his, kind of, girlfriend without either of them actually having said so aloud. It made him feel kind of guilty, but he didn't know how to deal with that, so fell back on his old standby of trying to avoid thinking about things he didn't know how to deal with.

"Naruto sucks," He said shaking his head and concentrating on the conversation. "Real ninja were supposed to be silent killers, people who could do their job and get out without anyone the wiser, like Konatsu can when he really tries. Naruto style ninjas are more like children on steroids and given superpowers. The fight scenes are okay, but the characters all suck. My old man is a better father figure then the Toad Pervert, and was a way better teacher than that douchebag in the mask, and don't get me started on the girls."

"How can you say that?!" Rias exclaimed, ignoring the towel barely covering her body as she bounced to her feet. The bounce would have dislodged her towel if Koneko hadn't reached over and grabbed it, pulling it tight behind the redhead. Rias ignored that though, pointing at her angrily. "Jiraiya was a spymaster, he couldn't be around all the time, so of course he's not a good role model for Naruto, but he was an excellent teacher."

"Nah," Ranma said shaking his head. "Not all that good, if he didn't notice that Naruto should have been made into a stealth specialist, and had his basics corrected up the wazoo. The only characters I like in that anime are Rock lee and his sensei, and even then they got major problems because of the whole spandex thing."

"You're just biased!" Rias exclaimed, throwing her arms up. "Just because you can't do anything like their attacks you…"

She trailed off as Ranma held up a finger, on which a Moko Takabasha suddenly began to coalesce. "You were saying?"

For a moment Koneko almost dropped the towel which she was still trying to tie around Rias, staring at the ball of what had to be… "Chakra…" she said aloud, looking fearful. "You shouldn't do that."

Ranma cocked his head. "Chakra? You watch that anime too Koneko-chan?"

"No, she doesn't, that is the devil term for what you're doing right now Ranma, and that is pulling energy from the world around you to power yourself." Rias replied, serious now as she stared at the ball in Ranma's hand. "That definitely feels like chakra, but it also doesn't somehow. Koneko?"

Koneko moved around Rias reluctantly moving closer to the blue ball, then she stopped, twitching slightly and breathing a sigh of relief. "Not," she said shaking her head. "Not chakra, not as we understand it. It feels like him."

"Yep, this is my life force, my ki, not from the world around us, it's all me. Martial artists can build ki up to the point where he can actually use it like this. It's hard as hell to do, but also really rewarding."

"That's interesting…" Rias said, shaking her head. Then she frowned. "Wait, why are you here anyway?"

Koneko blinked, then glowered at the older one girl. Getting behind her once more she began to push Rias out of the room. "Go get changed senpai, I wanted to talk to Ranma."

Flickering his fingers lightly Ranma regathered the energy from the ball of ki, looking at Koneko as she came back towards him, sitting on the other side of the sofa from Ranma rather than across. The two of them fell silent, as Koneko got her mind back onto the issue that they were here to talk about, and Ranma did the same.

Then Koneko began. "Rias told us about your affliction. Is that why you are so nervous around me?"

Ranma opened his mouth to deny that he was nervous, but the look in Koneko's eyes stopped him and he sighed. "Yeah, that's why. I'm sorry Koneko-chan, it's just when I'm near you, my instincts scream furry devil creature for some reason. I thought I been doing a good job of keeping you from noticing about. It's nothing to do with you," he hastened to add, "it's just me."

"Wrong," Koneko shook her head looking almost sorrowful despite her unchanging face. "It is me." When Ranma me to speak she held up a hand, raising her other hand up to her hair for a moment. "Going to show you something Ranma, just… just don't be afraid of me… Okay?"

Her voice broke on the last line, and she looked so sorrowful and fearful herself that Ranma could do nothing more than nod his head. "I promise," he said, even going so far as to put one hand over his heart.

Koneko nodded and Ranma felt a brief pulse of some kind of energy from the girl, small and contained, but still just barely discernible to his senses. Then he blinked, as Koneko seemed to change slightly. She looked about a year or so older now, her eye color had changed from a pale green to yellow and on her head had appeared to small ears, the same silver color as the rest of her hair sticking up and moving independently. From behind Koneko's rear came a small fluffy tail, flicking occasionally as it lay there on the sofa.

She now looked like the quintessential cat-girl, and it was all Ranma could do to stop himself from screaming and running for the hills. One hand clenched on the armrest of the sofa next to him, and his other hand clenched and unclenched. Koneko could actually hear the metal frame of the sofa began to warp underneath the sofa's stuffing, but he wasn't running, so she thought that was a good sign.

"…I see," he said eventually, his voice cracking noticeably. "So you're what, a bakaneko or something?"

The girl nodded, reaching out to gently touch his hand. It twitched under her touch, but Ranma made it stay where it was, nodding his head as he muttered under his breath "She's not an actual cat, she's not an actual cat..."

Seeing that, Koneko lifted his hand up lightly, taking in both of her own. He wasn't running, that was good, that was very good for her. Koneko had seen people running away from her before, she hated being judged by her race, by the things her sister had done. She would be forever grateful to Rias for protecting her from all that. "Thank you for not running."

"it's a little hard, but I can get past it I think," Ranma said, closing his eyes briefly as he breathed in and out slowly before opening them. He concentrated on Koneko's face, trying to ignore how catlike her eyes were, or the fact that that her tail was still twitching behind her, or the ears on top of her head. It wasn't easy.

"Good," Koneko replied, then squeezed his hand again. "You are offering Rias-senpai training in return for her helping you with your curse?" Ranma nodded, and Koneko went on hesitantly. "I want to help you with this. Would you train me in return?"

"How exactly do you want to help?" Ranma asked, frowning a little skeptically.

"Project acclimatize," Koneko said, releasing his hand but crawling into his lap, sitting there ready to bolt if needed, but happy that he got used to her presence quickly. "Get you used to this form, then to small kittens, then cat's. Eventually you'll stop being scared."

"I suppose that might work in a way," Ranma replied, still skeptical. But listening to Koneko talk had actually helped his fear subside, so he nodded slowly. "All right, but not right away. Let me concentrate on Rias first along with Akeno. I think she's just going to come along with Rias whatever I do."

Rias entered the door the room then, looking at the two of them with her head cocked to one side, an odd expression on her face. She was once again dressed in her school uniform, which Ranma was forced to notice once again really did compliment her body very well indeed. Then again, with that body Rias'd look good in rags. Gah. stop that, if he thought to himself, shaking his head and looking away from the redhead. You and Saeko are kind of moving in boyfriend girlfriend direction, and she already lives with you, don't become a pervert like Akane always said ya were.

For her part Rias was staring at the two of them, with Koneko nearly in Ranma's lab, and with Ranma now absently patting her head gently. That mystery feeling came up inside of her once again seeing another girl so close to Ranma. But she shook it off quickly, unable or unwilling to understand what it was. "I heard the end of that, and since I have a few ideas on how to teach you how to control your curse, does that mean we can start training tomorrow? Despite how awesome One Punch man is as an anime, I'm afraid following the main character's training regimen is more likely to kill me rather than make me a better fighter."

"Technically Saitama wasn't a well-trained fighter in that he had actual martial art styles under his belt. He just had massive strength, durability and all that." Ranma replied with a shrug, turning around on the sofa to look at Rias without straining his neck. "And trust me, that exercise routine doesn't work. I mean I can do it obviously, I've been doing that or more since I was around 12 or so. But, it doesn't make you break through the 'barrier' whatever it is they call it in One Punch Man."

For a moment Koneko and Rias could only stare at one another in shock. Then Rias shook her head slowly. "0K, I'll just take your word for that." She said, trying to return to the normal world where humans couldn't do a hundreds push-ups, 200 sit ups, and run 10 km a day nonstop without any stops in between.

"But yeah, we can start tomorrow if you want. For now though I should head home." Ranma said, not noticing their responses to his words.

Getting up and setting Koneko aside, he patted her head once more before turning away, hiding his grimace from the young girl as he had felt her ears twitch under his hand. Rias saw that grimace, and both smiled and nodded at that, understanding that Ranma was generally trying to be kind to the girl, the feeling within her that had started when she saw them together lessening noticeably.

"We'll see you tomorrow then Ranma. Should we meet here, or at your house?"

"Here's fine," Ranma said the shrugged. "So long as you think we can use the school facilities anyway?"

"Oh that won't be a problem," Rias chuckled. "You evidently haven't thought about all of the things that barrier spell actually means, do you?"

Ranma cocked his head to one side, and Rias smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry your little head about it, all will be revealed tomorrow."

Ranma grabbed her hand from where it had patted his shoulder, squeezing it once before nodding and heading for the door waving his hand behind him to Koneko. Rias blushed again, looking down at her hand thoughtfully for a moment before turning away.

OOOOOOO

At the same time Rias was recovering from her exercises and running into Ranma, Akeno had left Kuoh using both of their familiars and her own feet to try and see if she could find where Shampoo was hiding out. She found a trail after about an hour's searching but nothing that she could use to find where the cat-cursed girl was now. And her familiars were less than useless, finding no sign of the Amazon.

Just as she was about to give up for the day however Shampoo found her. "What big tit girl want?" said a voice from behind Akeno as she stood on top of the rooftop.

Waving away one of Rias' bat familiars, Akeno turned, staring at the other girl and thrusting her chest out. "Oh, do something to control the envy in your tone, dear." She said, somewhat haughtily. "As for what I'm doing, I'm trying to keep an eye out on a loose cannon in our territory, that being you."

Shampoo's eyes narrowed, and suddenly one of her large maces appeared one hand. "Shampoo might have lost challenge against sword girl, but that only matter on school grounds. We not on school grounds now!"

Shampoo yelped as a bolt of lightning came from Akeno's hand, slamming into the top of the building where she had just been standing. "If I was here to pick a fight," Akeno said coolly, shaking her head sadly. "You would already know it."

Shampoo's eyes narrowed, suddenly connecting this girl and the redheaded girl with the devils that had tried to attack Kasumi and Kodachi back in Nerima. "So, you succubus after Ranma?" Another mace appeared in her other hand, and Shampoo made to charge forward.

Akeno shrugged. "Not really, and no I am not a succubus, though I am a devil." While it looked as if Akeno was simply standing there, dismissive of any threat that Shampoo could pose, Akeno was really tense like a string. Ranma had shown that he could fight a knight class in close and beat him. And Akeno knew that close-range was where she was at her weakest. She would have to open up the range to use her more potent spells, the question was if her speed would be up to the task.

Shampoo scowled. "Keep it that way," she said, slowly putting her maces back in her ki space. "Shampoo already have too too much trouble with bokken girl being after Airen."

"Funny, I don't think Ranma's ever said he's married," Akeno mused, one hand coming up to rest on her cheek as she seemed to think about it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I don't think he's ever mentioned that, strange."

The girl across from Akeno growled, and Akeno felt an atavistic thrill give her. While nowhere near as pleasant as causing physical pain, teasing like this was her third favorite thing to do. If it was Rias it would be her second favorite thing, as it was it fell to third.

"Is Amazon law," Shampoo said coldly. "Airen have no say in matter. We already married, he just need do his duty and come back to village with Shampoo."

Akeno's eyes narrowed dangerously now honestly angry. She disliked it with anyone acted as if someone else's thoughts or feelings didn't matter in a given situation that actually affected them so deeply. It reminded her too much of Rias' current circumstances, or her own life and even those of the rest of her friends.

"Ranma is a thinking, caring human being, of course his opinions matter especially when you're talking about something that would change his life! I suggest you remember that fact." Akeno replied coldly. "As for now, don't cause trouble in our territory, and we won't have trouble. I'm not willing to start a fight to stop you chasing Ranma, but if you hurt bystanders or damage public property, then I will have no choice. And even that's more than Sona-sama would be willing to let you do."

Throughout that speech Akeno's face had changed from its normal smiling expression to a serious one, and Shampoo stared at her for a moment before nodding. "I am warrior," she said stiffly. "I not involve bystanders if can help it. You just stay away from Airen, and we have no problems on my end."

"Very good," Akeno said of the nod before moving backwards. "That was the only message I had to tell you."

Shampoo nodded and leaped backwards, disappearing down into an alleyway. By the time Akeno reached the end of the roof she was gone, and Akeno chuckled. "What a slippery little kitty she is. Still, not slippery enough." During their conversation Akeno had hit the other girl with a small spell that would tell Akeno or the other demons where she was so long as they were close enough to sense the magic of the spell. So not only had she warned the girl not to mess with the two peerages in the area, but she had also made certain they could find the girl in the future if need be.

"I've now belled the cat, I suppose I should head home and get started on dinner, though I think I deserve a treat firsSST!"

Akeno was interrupted as a young man she had never seen before glomped onto her from behind. "Shampoo my love! I finally found you. Now come, we can return to the village immediately, stop this made affair with Saotome!" With each word the hands squeezed where they had grabbed their victim.

Twitching spasmodically Akeno looked first down at the hands now groping her chest, then around the man who was holding her. "Ara, you must be Mousse. I was told about you. Could you please put on your glasses?"

Hearing a voice that was definitely not Shampoo, Mousse let go of Akeno, pulling away and pulling a pair of glasses out from his voluminous sleeves, which he stuck on his face. He stared at her then backed away quickly. "You're not Shampoo!" Then he looked down his hands flexing them slightly. "I thought you were rather bigger, both in the waist and chest."

"Mah, so you can see me now?" Akeno said calmly, far too calmly, though if someone looked closely they would have been able to see her fingers twitching. "After all, I want my victim to see me."

Mousse looked at her blankly, then yelped as a lightning pulled nearly took his head off.

"Grabbing a girl like that out of the blue, you certainly deserve some punishment!" Akeno shouted, her eyes alight with delight at the prospect.

Moose shrieked again as another lightning bolt crashed into him, electrocuting him lightly but he rolled with it, pushing himself off and away running away quickly over the rooftops as Akeno gave chase shouting. "Get back here and take your punishment!"

None of Ranma's acquaintances or even Sona and her group, busy getting to know who their newest member, saw that Issei had gotten a love letter in his locker. Or that he had apparently set up a date for the next day. It had been Kiba's turn to watch him that morning, and Akeno was supposed to take over, but her mission to find Shampoo had taken precedence, and Kiba had been in no position to remember it. After his relationship with Tsubaki had come out the day before the girls hadn't given up, instead following him around even more determinedly, though for various reasons.

OOOOOOO

The next day, Saeko and Ranma spent a nice morning together along with Asia and his mother moving around the town comparing prices for different pieces of furniture. Ranma didn't find it very interesting, but Saeko made a game of it. Each time they entered a new building, she would ask Ranma if it reminded him of any of the fights he been back in Nerima, or where to set up at an ambush, or if a ninja could hide here or there.

This not only amused Ranma but it kept Saeko's interest up as she experienced part of being a woman that she had never really liked: shopping. Saeko knew what she looked good in, that was enough for her, and she was somewhat disdainful of girls who took their time about it, let alone those who felt the need for large amounts of cosmetics. Footwear was a different story though.

"So, what are you going to train Rias in?" she asked later that afternoon, as the two of them left the house once more, leaving Asia to help Nodoka with measuring things again. Kasumi had a meeting at the school she was working at to go to, but Saeko and Asia would have some time to look around the area later before meeting up with the rest of the family for dinner.

"Well, she doesn't have ay formal training, so at least some of the things I'm going to teach her are going to be the basic of the basic if you know what I mean. On the other hand, as a Devil I assume she's got a lot of strength and durability, so maybe she won't need a set style if we can build up her agility, dexterity and of course her instincts."

"Why do I get the impression this is going be very painful for her?" Saeko mused then smiled slightly. "And rather amusing for those of us on the watching on the sidelines."

"That's because it probably will be. I know I'm going to have fun." Ranma smirked.

"Are you sure you're not a sadist?" Saeko asked, only half-jokingly.

They were met at the school entrance by Rias and Akeno who smiled at them both, though Rias once again felt that odd feeling she got sometimes around Ranma as she noticed the two of them absentmindedly holding hands. Shaking it off, she finished giving orders to the trio of her bat familiars, all of whom had transformed into pretty, if nondescript, girls dressed in various costumes. The all also held stacks of flyers to hand out as they wished to.

Akeno however spoke up before she could. "I ran into Shampoo the other day and warned her about making trouble in our territory Ranma. Besides the agreement which with Saeko however, is there any chance of her not making trouble elsewhere?"

"I'd say there's a 0% chance of that." Ranma said with a shrug. "Shampoo's really good at sneaking around, especially in that furry demon form of hers, and she's also really good at living on the land if she has to. She won't have a lot of more to show us in terms of her own bag of tricks in a fight, but she's really good at avoiding detection."

As they walked Ranma took a moment to look at the two Devil girls, who were dressed for training, wearing Kuoh's gym uniform which consisted of exercise shorts and shirts. After a second staring, Ranma shook his head flushing slightly and looking away. It didn't take a genius to know why the two of them were known as the Two Great Ladies of the school. If any of the pervert brigade had been there, they would probably have died of blood loss, or committed sexual assault, one of the two.

Snapping his fingers Ranma turned to look at Saeko, not noticing the glower from Rias as he did so, not reacting beyond his slight flush to her body. "By the way, did the Perverted Trio bother you again yesterday?"

"They attempted to, but I made use of that suggestion you made the evening before last." She chuckled, quite evilly it must be said. "Tying them up and taking pictures of them and threatening to post them all over the school after certain… modifications had been made to the picture will hopefully be enough to force them to rethink spying on us further."

"So" Akeno said in sudden interest, gliding over to the sword wielding girl while Rias turned away, leading the way into the school grounds. "Tell me more of this."

Saeko laughed. "Well…"

Flashback:

"Praise Buddha no one's figured out how we get past here yet," whispered Matsuda, pulling at the thorny rose bush gently, pulling the entire bush out to show that the roots had been imbedded into a pot which had itself been buried in the ground. He set it aside like someone would a holy relic, because to the three perverts, that was what it was: the key to their holy domain, where they could stare unabashedly into the girls changing area.

"I don't know," Issei said frowning thoughtfully as some kind of hidden danger sense within him began to go off. It was almost but not quite like a voice just out of hearing range trying to tell him something. "Don't you think it's weird that Ranma-aho, Saeko-chan or the others didn't realize we could move that bush?"

"Not really," said Mahotama shrugging his shoulders as he began to move into the exceedingly cramped space left between the two remaining rose bushes. "After all, Ranma found us after coming in over the rooftops, and we'd already replaced the bush behind us by the time he did. As for the others, they've never caught us coming in or out, only after we've tried to escape."

"Make sense," Issei said with an eager nod ignoring his danger sense with ease as his libido took control. After following his friends through he turned to help Matsuda set the bush back so that it looked as if no one had done anything to it, making certain to cover the edges of the pot so the ground looked natural.

With that done the two of them hurried after their friend catching up with him just as he was about to hop up onto the small step which allowed them to see into changing room. None of them noticed that the mud of the step had been disturbed slightly. They did notice however when they suddenly were yanked upwards, tiny pieces of rope pulled tight around their ankles holding them in the air.

"That was remarkably easy," used a voice from above them. "You three really don't learn do you?"

The three perverts tilted their heads upward to stare above them, their eyes widening in shock, rising fear and arousal at the sight which greeted them. Above them on the rooftop stood Saeko and several of the other kendo club members, staring down at them coldly. The fact that most of them were still wearing their school uniforms gave the three perverts hanging below very nice up-skirt shots. But the reality of their presence was overriding their arousal.

That fear grew as Saeko was suddenly holding her bokken, shaking her head rather sadly. "Oh dear, well we've tried pain and we've tried humiliation on a small scale. How about humiliation on a large scale with some blackmail mixed in?" Raising her sword she slashed it downwards at the perverts, whose pants suddenly disappeared, sliced into pieces by several dozen wind blades.

"Who has the camera?" Saeko asked, raising her sword once more as the three perverts began to beg for their lives. It wasn't their lives which was in danger here however, but their dignity. Normally they were all willing to part with that to a certain degree but not to the degree Saeko had in mind.

End flashback

The three girls all laughed as Saeko related the tale, and Ranma shook his head. "I hope that'll work, because beating sure as heck won't. I don't know what it is about perverts but they seem to have some kind of strange life force all their own. Even when I cut off that old pervert from the girls or their underwear so he couldn't recharge himself Happy was still able to take more of a beating than an army."

Rias shivered a little. "Please don't mention him again. Every time you do I get this feeling that we are simply trying to dodge fate for fun and giggles."

Ranma blinked, then slowly nodded. "You know, that makes way too much sense for me to ignore."

"Speaking of things I would rather ignore," Akeno said brightly, "I hate to tell you Ranma, but I had a run in yesterday right after Shampoo and I stopped our discussion."

Akeno went on to describe her 'adventure' the other day with Mousse, and Ranma frowned. "That's not good. I thought we'd have at least a week or so before it he showed up, and alone? That's really not good." I also wonder how the hell he managed it, very weird, I mean I know he's a decent tracker, but that good?

"Beyond his blindness, is he really a danger to other people?" Rias asked seriously as they came near the gym. Inside they could already hear the sound of training going on, and Koneko's droning voice reached them as well.

"The only danger from Mousse is his myopia. He won't attack other people on purpose, but he is far more likely to accidentally then Shampoo. If he shows up here I'll talk to him, maybe get him to leave off attacking me here at school. But that'll be about the best I can do. Unless you scared him off Akeno, which is doubtful."

"I still don't understand why he thinks you are after Shampoo at all," Rias said shaking her head. Chinese skank.

"Tell me about it," Saeko murmured, smacking her shoulder into the other girl's. "I think it's because all Amazons have had lobotomies of some kind, removing something we'd like to take for granted. Common sense in Shampoo's case, and the ability to see reality in Mousse's.

"What about Cologne?" Ranma asked, turning to her as he opened the door to the gym.

"The ability to not cackle?" Saeko asked rhetorically.

As they opened the door Koneko's actual words could be made out. "Miss, Miss, closer that time, Miss. When is it going to be my turn?"

"Five more times Koneko-san," Kiba said, racing around the girl at breakneck speed. They were trying to train Koneko's ability to track his movements, as well as his own accuracy at said speed, which wasn't quite as good as he had hoped against a moving target. Koneko moved randomly jumping around, and while Kiba could tag her body, she wasn't that fast after all, he couldn't quite hit the targets which were painted on her gym uniform.

It was an excellent exercise for him and for her in terms of training her to dodge. But Koneko was a Rook, and she preferred to tank anything she could, concentrating instead on hitting back. So it was rather irritating for her.

Koneko looked around as Ranma came in, trotting towards him quickly even as she dodged one of Kiba's last strikes. Her normal human guise disappeared, her tail appearing behind her and her ears popping up on her head as she moved towards Ranma.

Before Ranma could react negatively to her now catlike appearance, Saeko had grabbed one of his hands and Rias the other, holding him still. Then Koneko was on him, hugging him around the middle and looking up at him soulfully with her yellow eyes. "Remember sempai, project acclimatize."

Ranma looked down at her, nodding his head slowly even as his entire being tried to tell him to run away. She's not a furry demon even, she's not a furry demon…

He never noticed Saeko and Rias stiffening as they both noticed how the other girl had reacted. They glared at one another around Ranma's body as Akeno began to giggle behind one hand behind them, predicting much merriment for her in her future.

Slowly as Ranma began to gain control of himself and Rias reluctantly removed her hand, looking over at her friend. "Akeno, would you care to do the honors?"

Still giggling behind her raised hand Akeno nodded, moving to the center of the gym, her fingers moving quickly in a series of gestures. There was a feeling of magic in the air that passed swiftly, like a bubble spreading around them and Ranma and Saeko both looked up, staring around them as Koneko moved away from Ranma, smiling victoriously in her own minimalist fashion.

"So this is that alternate dimension barrier thing that the Devils used in Nerima right?" Ranma asked. "How difficult is this spell?"

"Not very difficult at all if you have access to the power to generate it." Rias said with a shrug. "Practically every Devil can regardless of their power level."

"Interesting," Saeko murmured, pulling out her broken. "I just want to be clear, no damage we do here will carry over to the real world?"

"No, none of it." Rias said, and then watched as without warning Saeko turned swiftly, her bokken coming up and hurling one of her ki attacks at Ranma.

Ranma dodged to one side, watching as the blast slammed into the wall of the gym cutting through it to reveal the schoolyard outside through the rubble. "Good to know," he said sweat-dropping as Saeko moved into the attack. He then looked over at Akeno and Rias, dodging one blow from Saeko and kicking up into the air, nearly catching her with a round house kick before she was out of range

Rolling forward Saeko tried to pull up and change direction as suddenly as he could, twirling around to bring her sword up and over to but he had already changed direction. Instead he had landed nearby, lashing out with a punch she was forced to block with the hilt of her blade, which cracked dangerously as she was skidded backwards.

"Well, what are you to waiting for?" Ranma asked. "You two wanted training, so come on let's see what you got!"

"You want us just to attack you I take it?" Rias asked, circling the fight cautiously as Akeno did the same on the other side, moving in a synchronized move that was natural to them in any fight like this.

"It's the fastest way for me to figure out where you are in terms of skill, and what you need to get better at besides actually teaching you a martial arts style anyway." Ranma shrugged. "No matter how good or strong or fast an amateur'll never be able to match a pro after all, though I'm bettin' a lot of you devil types don't bother studyin' styles."

"Oh?" Rias said, her tone suddenly dangerous. "Let's put that to the test."

With that she and Akeno closed as one, hopping to pin Ranma in place with Saeko's inadvertent aid.

Ranma however was waiting for them, and used Akeno to block Saeko's next charge, kicking out with enough power to throw the girl backwards but not really hurt her, hurling her into Saeko's next attack. Rias found her own punch grabbed and found herself lifted over Ranma's shoulder and thrown hard to the ground, where she bounced a few times before getting her feet under her.

Nearby Kiba gripped his sword looking at his king pleadingly. "Can I join in please? I don't like watching you put yourself through pain like this without helping, Rias-sama."

"No, you and Koneko-chan keep exercising!" said Rias sharply, rubbing at her back a bit before moving back towards Ranma. "As for you training with Ranma, Kiba, come up with something you can give him or teach them, and then we'll talk."

To her mind, of all of her peerage Kiba was the one that needed Ranma's help the least. He already was an extremely good swordsman, whose style was just as good as his speed and strength. All of it could be refined, but he had excellent skills already.

Koneko however was, despite a decent enough grounding in Karate, much more amateurish about how she had gone about training herself over the years. And Akeno and Rias had never formally trained. They'd had a few lessons with some of her brother's peerage in basic self-defense, but nothing major.

This became obvious to Ranma as the fight went on, with both girls getting slightly frustrated as they simply couldn't tag him. "You got a lot of strength and some decent speed," Ranma said eventually, blocking both attacks from the two girls and kicking out hard at Saeko, wincing as her sword connected with his foot pushing him back slightly. Unlike the two girls, Saeko had gotten better as the fight went on, working her own tactics into using the other two to her advantage rather than disadvantage.

Akeno and Rias had good coordination between them, but that really wasn't able to overcome their basic lack of style or finesse. Nor were they able to communicate with Saeko without Ranma following along.

Using the impetus from Saeko's blow, Ranma flipped through the air and away from the trio, landing on the other side of the gym. He was about to call a halt when Rias in a fit of anger raised her hand and gestured violently. An aura of red energy appeared around her, not anger-based ki like Ranma had seen before. This was devil power. A second later a sphere of red energy shot towards him.

His instincts screaming Ranma ducked out of the way to one side, watching as the Power of Destruction slammed into the wall of the gym disintegrating it on contact. In a very wide area, Ranma noticed, looking back at Rias, who was glaring at him slightly.

"That was irritating," she said, then straightened herself and looked a little apologetic. "I have to apologize for that but really, I just want to supplement my original style, not replace it entirely Ranma. This has been humiliating, and I am not certain it served any purpose."

Ranma frowned, looking between the destroyed wall and Rias, then over at Akeno cocking an eyebrow at the black-haired girl. Akeno took her cue and gestured with one hand. A flash of lightning zoomed out from her hand crash with devastating force into another wall of the gym, destroying a smaller portion of it than Rias' Power of Destruction, but still doing some decent damage.

"Hmmm…" Ranma nodded thoughtfully, frowning. "You'll need something that emphasizes your agility and can help you keep the range open, possibly some ninja wire too." Rias' eyes went wide at that, and she smiled widely, but Ranma went on ignoring her reaction. "I think you should also learn something exactly opposite just in case in order to trick people and to make certain you aren't helpless in close, which was the whole point of this anyway right? Can you concentrate those attacks into a smaller area?"

"I can," Akeno said with a nod. "Rias?"

"I have occasionally yes it's extremely difficult, but it is doable." Rias answered, her eyes narrowing as she realized where Ranma was going with this.

"Good," Ranma said thoughtfully. "How quickly can you call them up, and do you need those gestures and the aura?"

"Very quickly and not really no." Rias said with a shrug. "When I get angry I use a hand gesture, but it's not necessary."

"Better and better," Ranma said with an evil grin.

Saeko too smiled, reaching over to wrap her arms around the two girls. "When we get through with you," she said, "no one's going to want to be anywhere near you."

"However before that," Ranma went on, pulling out a bag from his ki space and tossing it to the ground before opening it. "We're going to have to do a lot of things. Some katas for body control and flexibility, some agility exercises and balance work for certain. A large amount of sparring too."

"Do you really think we need that much help?" Rias asked, working one hand through her sweaty hair. Keeping up with Ranma's movement, and now Saeko, was incredibly difficult even for devils at the speed they moved. "I think you've already given me an interesting new way of using my power. I'll keep concentrating on shrinking the attack, as well as conjuring it up faster."

"And without that aura, remember." Ranma said,beginning to pull things out of the bag. "That's a dead giveaway."

"That could be more difficult… what are you…" Rias trailed off, cocking her in confusion as Ranma continued to pull things out of the bag. There were already several baseballs, a few golf balls, and several dozen Styrofoam balls.

"But before that, we need to build up your ability to anticipate your opponent attacks, your speed and reaction time. This'll also be good agility exercise too." Ranma rubbed the back of his neck for a moment, throwing one of the Styrofoam balls up into the air. "Well, there's no easy way of saying this, so… dodge!" With that he started to hurl the balls one after another towards Rias and Akeno.

The two Devil girls squeaked at the sudden attack, and Rias quickly conjured up her sphere of destruction, only for a golf ball to smack into her forehead. "None of that, this is about dodging, agility and the ability to anticipate where the blows will land, no magic!"

Akeno grimaced, and tried to form a shield, only for one of her hands to get smacked by another golf ball, and a foam dart from a nerf gun to smack right between her eyes, sticking there. "What did I just say?"

The girls exchanged one resigned glance then began to dodge, ducking around in earnest as Saeko, grinning somewhat wickedly at Rias, joined in.

About 40 minutes later as the two girls collapsed to their knees, bruised battered and rather irritated (read: really angry) Ranma called a halt. "Not bad for your first day" Ranma said, bouncing over to them with a demeaning level of cheerfulness. "Later on we'll have Koneko try the same sort of exercise, Kiba, you want to try to?"

Sweatdropping slightly Kiba was about to bow out, but a glare from his king stopped him. Seeing no way out he simply sighed and said. "If Busujima-san joins us as well I suppose I could do that."

"Oh, certainly" Saeko said, smiling slightly. "I've done this exercise several times." Ranma had put her through the dodge training several times since they had met and she was up to dodging edged tools rather than balls.

"For now though, let's take a break." So saying Ranma knelt down in front of the two still gasping Devil girls holding out two cups of water to each of them. They took them gratefully as he squatted there, smiling at them. You really did great for your first exercises y'know. Way better than Saeko did I can tell you that." he said smirking over at the sword user

Saeko merely rolled her eyes at him. "Forgive me for seeming merely mortal at the time, I had after all only known you a few days. Now that normality is so far in my rear view mirror, I perform much better, don't I?"

"Yep." Ranma said with a nod. "You're almost as quick at picking things up as I am."

"Oh?" The girl said slowly, her voice suddenly darkening as Akeno smirked. "Only almost?"

"I didn't mean anything by it," Ranma replied, backing away slightly while Akeno and Rias laughed. "I did have some advantages y'know."

Saeko relented with a smile, going back to her regular expression as she helped Akeno and Rias to their feet one after another. "You said something about taking a break?"

Nodding his head Ranma looked at the two Devils. "Rias you told me you figured out how to help me control my curse form, I figure we can use working on that as a break."

Rias nodded, pushing her sweat-matted hair out of her eyes to look at the young man, taking in his body appreciatively not for the first time that day. "That's a good idea." Then without warning Rias took what little water remained in her cup and threw it into Ranma's face, watching through her magical senses as the change occurred.

Frowning thoughtfully she nodded. "All right, I'm going to have to watch you shift several times in quick succession to get an idea, but we are going to start with meditation at least. I think the magic takes from what you call your ki to power it, and if that's the case, and given what you can already do with your life energy, you should be able to control it to a certain degree."

"Makes sense," Ranma muttered wiping her now wet face as she looked at the other redhead. He began to pull out a thermos, dumping it over his head, then looked at them both seriously. "Just wait until the change is fully done before splashing me okay?"

"Why?" Akeno asked, her hand poised to throw her own remaining water but stopping herself just in time. "What happens?"

"Pain. A lot of it," Ranma answered simply. "If you're splashed by hot water while also in cold water, it's like your body is trying to fight itself, trying to be both and yet neither at the same time."

"That's mildly disturbing," Akeno shuddered, and not in interest this time but in actual revulsion. While she was a sadist and reveled in it, even Akeno wouldn't cross the line to that kind of pain. Mind you, if that blind fool tries to grab my breasts again, I might change my mind.

Rias however had narrowed her eyes, gently touching Ranma's shoulder. "You sound as if you're speaking from personal experience. Are you?"

Ranma nodded reluctantly. "Shampoo ambushed me once in the bath at the Tendo place. As I was freaking out Akane came in and splashed us both with cold water. She was standing up in the bath, I was still sitting in it. After Shampoo recovered I had to stop her from killing Akane for real rather than fun." That had been really hard at the time given Ranma's own body was still twitching in agony. "Anyway, how do you want to do this?"

After Saeko and Akeno had studied his change several times they had him sit down and begin to meditate. As he began to fell into the meditation trance Rias began, her hands reaching out to rest on either side of Ranma's head for a brief moment before retreating. "There should be a sense of something between you and your ki as you are changing forms, you should be able to sense it when the change occurs. It should pulse when you shift from one form to another, but it should always be there, this slight addition to your life force reserves. Right on the edge of your awareness, where your body interacts with your life energy."

"Not the most scientific way of describing it I have to admit," Rias said to herself, shaking her head. "But then again, magic and science rarely mix, especially when life energy gets involved, whatever you call it. Still, the small spell I just cast should let you find the bit of magic there."

Slipping into his meditation Ranma began to ignore the change as Akeno and Rias changed him from one form to another with about four minutes between each change, not even twitching. Rias kept her eyes locked on Ranma's body, her magical senses straining. She could almost find the trigger, but there was something off about it, something strange… What is it?

For his part, Ranma delved deep into his psyche trying to find the link between himself and his ki. Finding it was easy, after all it wasn't the first time he'd done this. Feeling it out however was slightly different, and that took him a while. But he didn't find what he was looking for, not at first. There was nothing connecting his ki to his transformation like Rias had supposed, there was no pulse there as his body went through the change.

Shrugging his shoulders mentally, Ranma began to feel about out again, pushing past where his ki was stored into the rest of his body, trying to find out what was there that he wasn't feeling. That part of what Rias said he agreed with, there had to be some kind of internal change. What he found was odd. Not a metaphorical button, switch or anything of that nature, but a thread connecting Ranma's body to something else.

Curious, he followed the thread with his mind. His body went slack slightly as he deepened his meditation, not that Ranma noticed. The girls did, and looked at one another before shrugging. Then they felt it.

Power, power ratcheting through Ranma, boiling up out of him as it flowed down that thread, now suddenly very visible indeed to their senses. Not ki, but magic, more chaos magic than either of them had ever imagined existed. It was intoxicating, it was intense, and it was arousing to both Devil girls.

Ranma found himself standing in his own body or what looked like his own body until he noticed he could see through himself slightly. And he was standing in the middle of a battlefield. It was obviously a battlefield, because it was not only a massive series of craters everywhere, but bodies and bits of bodies scattered everywhere. Whirling around Ranma's eyes went wide as he crouched low into a combat stance, as he wondered how he had been transported her and where the hell here was. Some of the area looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

Rain began to fall all around and through him, but Ranma astral form or whatever it was, (Ranma called it his astral form later when he began to explain it, taking the idea from a comic book he had once read) didn't change. Steam began to rise from some of the craters nearby, yet Ranma couldn't see anyone else alive anywhere.

"Greetings Ranma of the clan Saotome," said a voice behind him making Ranma turned quickly, his hands still clenched into fists, his eyes still wild. The sight in front of him did nothing to lessen his sense of concern.

In front of him now there was a boulder, and upon that boulder sat the figure of a man, or at least he looked like a man at first glance, until you took in scale and everything else. For one thing, he stood at least 8 feet tall, and was as wide in the shoulders as Ranma's father and then some. He wore dented, banged and almost ruined armor, painted on one side black with the others left bare steel. In the center of his chest was a yin-yang symbol, it's form unmarred and pristine despite all the injuries the rest of his body showed, several of which Ranma knew for a fact should have been mortal.

That symbol seems significant, Ranma thought as he slowly came out of his combat stands, examining the man more closely as he made no attempt to attack.

His face too was pristine, though he was missing a few chunks of hair, and his neck was marred by some kind of injury or other, which had possibly carried away the helmet that went with that armor. The 12 magnificent white wings that spread from his back would also have been off-putting for anyone but Ranma, who was used to the unusual.

The place he was in still bothered the hell out of Ranma of course, but that was because it was a very bloody battlefield and his danger senses were going haywire, not his sense of reality itself. "Who are you?" Ranma asked calming down slightly. "And where are we?"

"I am Raquel, archangel of justice, harmony and balance. And this, this is the scene of the final battle of the War of the Fallen, this is where God fell."

Ranma blinked in shock. "Wait what! What're you talking about?"

"God fell here," Raquel said his face a mask of controlled grief deeper than the oceans, almost inhuman in its depth, power and its sense of loss. "He fell protecting everyone, not just we his children, his army, but the devils and the fallen who had turned from his light. He fell protecting us from what lay beyond, and then he was struck down. In his moment of weakness he was struck down by a cowards blow, from behind! I know not who did that, none gathered here do save one, who will not speak of it." Raquel looked off into the distance, shaking his head at something only he could see.

Ranma frowned thoughtfully, taking this in. Part of him was still thinking this might be some kind of hallucination, but the being in front of him was so far beyond anything Ranma could think of on his own that idea didn't really make sense. And as Ranma calmed down further, he began to sense energies all around him, magical ones he supposed, beyond anything he'd ever felt before. But it was odd, it was almost diffuse but not quite, all-encompassing but not something he could reach out and touch. "This is all in my mind isn't it?"

"Of a sort," Raquel said with a nod of approval. "This is a memory, I am a memory. Beings as powerful as I, as those who died here in their droves leave memories behind when we die as it were, especially in a place like this where our deaths were piled one on top of the other. It weakened the world, and it has never truly recovered."

"I'm going to pretend that made an ounce of sense to me," Ranma said with a chuckle. "But where are we?"

"You know already," Raquel said slowly, gesturing around him. Did you not ever think about where that power came from? The power to change one form to another with just a touch of water is beyond any wizard, devil, fallen or angel."

"We're in Jusenkyou." Ranma said knowing now why some of the land features had jolted his memory. "Okay I can understand that."

"Yes, Jusenkyou, the scene of the greatest battle this dimension has ever seen, where the magic has given birth to chaos magic of a sort and a power that is beyond even my comprehension. And you, Ranma of all of the ones who have fallen into the Springs, have figured out a way to trace the power of the curse back. It's fascinating, it has never been have happened before, and I'm interested to see what happens further."

"I would like to talk to you some more, after all, this is the first conversation I have had with anyone beyond my fallen brethren for eons. But I sense you didn't actually reach this place entirely on your own, and your body might need you." Raquel looked almost like he was blushing, slightly looking away. "An interesting reaction I have to say, these devils of your time are nothing like the devils of mine."

"Wait, what's that supposed to… mean?" Ranma finished aloud, finding himself once again back in his at the moment female body. Whereupon Ranma found out almost immediately what the Archangel had been going on about.

Akeno and Rias were both down on their knees around him, looking flushed, their breaths coming in great gasps. Akeno was more obvious about it, she had actually crawled up to Ranma, staring into his face where he had begun to meditate, almost sitting in his lap. Rias simply sat there staring at him, her face flushed, her chest heaving as she seemed to deal with some strange arousal going through her body.

Waking up with Akeno practically 3 centimeters away from kissing her Ranma reacted as he normally would in times of great danger. She screamed like a little girl, pushed her off her and jumped to the ceiling, where Ranma stuck like a spider staring down at the bigger breasted girl. "What the hell Akeno!?"

"Why don't you come down here Ranma-kuuuun." Akeno said, getting to her feet and staring up at Ranma, one hand moving up to pull down her gym shirt at the neck, showing even more cleavage than she had been. "Please?"

As Ranma was looking away with a wild blush on her face Akeno suddenly launched several lightning bolts at Ranma from her other hand, destroying the ceiling around which the other redhead had been clinging to. Ranma fell and Akeno tackled her as she tried to dodge some of the falling bits of wood. Her mind still haven't quite caught up with reality, hence her slower reflexes.

Once more Ranma found Akeno sitting on him, her wet core rubbing against him through their clothing as she leaned into a kiss. Rias too grabbed onto him, her self-control gone now as she smiled lustfully at him. "Such power…" she gasped shaking her head before leaning forward, her ruby red lips parted.

Ranma desperately broke Rias' grip on her arm, pushing Rias' face away slightly, then when that didn't seem to be working grabbing the back of her head and pulling her face down into her breasts, ignoring with difficulty the feeling of her head moving around on her chest. Akeno tried to lean forward to kiss Ranma in turn but got the same treatment. They were both pressed against the aquatransexuals chest, flailing now as his stronger grip kept them there. "Get control of yourselves this isn't you!"

At the redhead's voice Rias shuddered, her fist clenched and unclenched, smashing into the ground beneath it, causing cracks in the woodwork of the gym floor. But when her eyes opened, they had returned to their normal light green color, rather than that deep burning green they had been.

She nodded convulsively once, but her arms went around Ranma hugging the other redhead tightly. "Thank you," she whispered, before pushing away from Ranma and grabbing Akeno by the back of her shirt and pulling her off Ranma as well. "Akeno snap out of it!"

Akeno shook her head, smiling almost naturally towards Ranma. "Ara, that was rather intense. A pity you didn't take us up on our offer Ranma, it would not only have solved a few problems, but I guarantee it would've been enjoyable."

Ranma blushed, looking down at the floor and shaking her head rapidly. "W-what the heck was that about!"

"Devils of both genders are turned on by power," Rias explained reluctantly, looking away absently noting she would need a new pair panties. "I never realized it was so literal before, but seeing you with that magic aura around you, it just went straight past all of my self-control and into the deepest, darkest recesses of my heritage." She shook her head sadly. "I thought I had more control than that."

"Actually," Akeno mused thoughtfully "I don't think it was just his power. That magic was chaotic in nature. I think it responded negatively to our attempts to control ourselves, the effect becoming stronger the longer we tried to not respond to it."

"That sounds plausible but what was that?" Rias asked, her voice rising as she went on shaking her head and looking at Ranma. "Where the hell did you get that kind of power!"

"The curse isn't part of my body, well the trigger for the change is but the power behind it isn't. I'm still apparently connected to the magic of Jusenkyou." Ranma said shrugging. "I found that connection when I meditated, as you told me to. That was the most bizarre feeling I've ever had, though I don't know if it taught me to actually control the curse."

Ranma shook her head. She wasn't willing to tell them about his conversation with Raquel or the implications about God just yet. He sure as hell wasn't going to share that one with anyone, it would just bring way too much trouble. Not to mention, it would ruin Asia's faith. That girl deserved better than to learn than her entire faith had been a lie. "I think we're done today right?"

"Yes," Rias said quickly. "I think both of us need a shower, and frankly Ranma, at the moment I'm really having trouble looking at you without blushing." That was not a normal thing for Rias despite her as yet unacknowledged attraction toward Ranma, but nor was her body's response to what had just occurred. She really, really didn't like being out of control like that. Too many other people thought they could control her for Rias to let herself be controlled by her own devil heritage like that.

Akeno pouted, stretching sinfully. Ranma wasn't certain how a stretch could be sinful, but Akeno sure pulled it off. "Pity, I would've liked to see where that was heading."

"Akeno!" Rias barked, grabbing the other girls shoulder and dragging her along. "Shower, now!"

Ranma watch them go for a moment then rather shakily pushed herself to her feet and quickly left after changing back to her male body.

Right now he just needed some air and to get as far away from sexy redheads, sexy devil girls, and anything else. He passed Saeko and the other two Devils who had left the gym to use the woodlands as a battlefield between the three of them, waving at them. "Exercise is over, I'm going to go patrol the city for a bit, I'll see you at home Saeko."

Saeko nodded, being a little too far away to notice Ranma's flushed state, or any other hint of his arousal, though Koneko noticed something and flushed a little herself looking away, then staring through the wall towards the gym shaking her head and wondering what the heck had happened beyond the barrier.

OOOOOOO

Raynare rolled her eyes, unseen by Issei as he walked her through the town. I've seen the wonders of New York, Constantinople, and even Babylon back when it was still around, you think this is going to impress me? The little bastard was so damn clingy, she was easily able to lead him on but it was also getting on her nerves slightly.

Not that he was perverted, she was prepared to put up with that given his reputation anything else would've been stupid. And it wasn't like Raynare was unused to being stared at. Fallen Angels like herself and even the male variety had bodies that were designed for sex, literally almost, to make other Angels fall from grace. But the poor little boy's attempt at cuddling up to her and treating her like a normal girl was just irritating.

After eating a subpar meal, Raynare was able to convince the boy to wait for her as she went to 'powder her nose'. Once inside, she pulled out the small communicator that she and the rest of her group were using to communicate. They were simple things, cheap store-bought radios modified further, but still up to the purpose. "The operation is a go, I have this fool eating out of my hand. Move on your own targets."

"Roger," Mittelt's voice replied from the other end, still sounding as if she wasn't certain this was a good idea, but that she knew they didn't really have any other option.

OOOOOOO

Across town, Mittelt looked up as her target Kasumi came by, speaking quietly to Nodoka, as Kasumi gestured towards another intersection along their route. "That's where I saw her, in her cat form of course."

"It makes sense, it'll certainly be easier for Shampoo to live on the streets as a cat, and hiding is no doubt easier as well. I wonder if Cologne has come after her yet. She might not have been the most helpful with Ranma's situation, but I quite enjoyed my conversations with her."

Mittelt frowned, wondering what the heck the two of them were talking about, but decided it didn't matter. She turned to the small group of six exorcists that were working with her on this operation, portion of the operation, gesturing them to follow at a distance. "And for the love of the holy, try to be blend in for now."

OOOOOOO

Elsewhere Freed too got the message, and he grinned evilly as he pulled out a knife licking the edge of it ecstatically. "They're going to pass through this territory, set up that damn Fallen spell, and let's have some fun!" Around him the other exercises, 12 of them in all, grinned and nodded too.

OOOOOOO

"Are you going to tell Ranma about Issei?" Akeno asked, her hands busy combing through her hair as she waited for Rias to exit the school showers. "Something is telling me he would react badly if you sprang that on him."

"On the one hand, it really doesn't have anything to do with Ranma, but on the other hand, yes I think he might." Rias mused, turning off the shower as she turned to her friend, ignoring their nakedness easily. After all, it wasn't the first time either of them had seen one another's body. Despite that a small jealous thought shot through Rias again. Did she her breasts grow again?

Shaking her head, Rias began to towel off her hair, a faint blush on her face remembering what had happened earlier and yesterday when Ranma had seen her in a similar condition. He's fun to tease! Honestly, with Ranma having his own female form and all the girls who have apparently been after him you'd think he'd be used to the female body. But he's so naïve still, it's almost strange but it is certainly funny!

"I'll tell Ranma and Saeko about Issei tomorrow, I intend to approach Issei on Monday, give him the entire week to think about it before making a decision on Friday. That will also give us time to get used to this whole training regimen."

"That sounds reasonable, but how do you think Ranma will react to it even if you outright tell him about your plans for Issei?" Akeno asked. "He's quite prideful about the fact that he has reached such heights of skill yet retained his humanity, so what would he think of you offering to take away someone else's?"

"True," Rias nodded, absentmindedly chewing on some of her red hair for a moment in thought until Akeno smacked her shoulder, making her stop it. That had been a bad habit Rias and gotten into when they were younger, and Venelana-sama had asked Akeno to help break Rias out of it. "I don't think he'll enforce those standards on other people, particularly non-martial artists like Issei."

What she wasn't saying was that Rias had thought about it for a long time and the only way getting Issei into her peerage would be a better idea in the long term than retaining Ranma's friendship was that if the Sacred Gear within Issei's body was one of the more powerful ones out there. She shuddered. Thank God Saeko had left the gym to work out with Kiba and Koneko outside before that all began. She would probably have killed us both. Rias thought, as she finished toweling off her hair.

That power though, if Ranma could learn how to harness it, he could become as strong as an ultimate class Devil! Not as strong as my brother I don't think, but certainly stronger than my parents and easily stronger than Riser. Frankly the implications for Ranma, let alone myself are huge! By the seven levels of hell he could possibly begin to learn magic to add to his repertoire! Though given how chaotic that magic is, I have no idea what form that would be.

Those thoughts brought a frown to Rias' face as well as a smile, the two expressions merging rather oddly on her face, causing Akeno to look at her in confusion. Rias waved her away however, continuing to think to herself. What that kind of power could mean for her own predicament caused Rias to feel a little flutter in her heart, but remembering Ranma's past experiences with such situations caused the frown.

After changing into their uniforms, which doubled as the girls' regular clothing Rias and Akeno exited the changing area, heading towards the gym's door. Akeno paused then, pointing ahead of them. "Ara, it looks as if Ranma ran away so quickly he forgot his bag."

Rias shook her head. "I might not have been in control during all that, but by Maou he's so fun to tease!" Akeno laughed nodding her head as Rias went on, saying her earlier thoughts aloud. "You would think with the number of women that have apparently been after him it at one point or another he'd be more used to the female body, not even considering the fact he's got his own. But no, he blushes like a little school boy."

"Or schoolgirl as the case may be," Akeno replied dryly, causing both of them to start giggling again as they moved towards the bag intent on picking up. As they reached it however, the cell phone within went off, and they both looked at one another. Rias shrugged picking it up and looking at the small screen. "It's not work for Ranma, it's his mom. Should I answer it?"

"I suppose," Akeno said with a shrug. "If it's only Nodoka-san, I doubt it's an emergency."

Rias blinked, then wondered why that conversation about tempting fate she'd had with Ranma about Happosai had just flashed into her mind . When she answered the phone, she found out. "Hello Ranma, I'm with Kasumi right now, and we seem to be being tailed by someone, several someone's in fact."

The older woman's voice sounded rather breathless on the other side of the line, as if she was running while answering the phone. "They don't look like martial artists of any kind, and they're certainly not Amazons, only one of them looks to be a woman, but that woman reminds me of someone you described to me as a Fallen Angel."

Rias' eyes narrowed, and she scowled angrily, her Aura of Destruction appearing around her. A fallen angel keeping an eye on events here is one thing, but actually making trouble in my and Sona's territory, are they mad? Or do they think they can attack people like Ranma and his family with impunity because they are not allied with any of the three factions? Regardless, this is my territory, any act in this area must be either an act of war or be made by 'rogue elements'.

She shook those thoughts away, needing to deal with the here and now rather than the consequences. "Nodoka, this is Rias. Ranma left his phone here, but don't worry, give me your location and Akeno and I will be there as soon as possible."

"I'm being chased by a girl who has the wings of an angel if not for the color, and I'm accepting a devil's aid. If I was Catholic, this might give me issues," Nodoka mused, then there was the sound of a crash a thump and a scream of pain.

"I am so thankful I kept up some of my katana skills," Nodoka muttered, before turning her attention back to the phone. "We're at Fifth and Spring Street, heading down Spring now towards Seventh. They haven't attacked us en-masse yet, but I think they're trying to herd us away from the crowds. And unfortunately…" there was another sound of a screech through the phone like a car had just barely missed the person with the phone. "It seems to be working. Kasumi and I can't keep this up for long."

"We'll be there as fast as possible." Rias said, closing the phone and racing off with Akeno trailing her quickly, shouting at her to tell her what was going on. But Rias ignored her, exiting the gym and looking around only to find that Kiba, Koneko, Saeko and Asia had all left already. Kiba had to go home to change for his date with Tsubaki, Koneko liked to trawl the candy stores on the weekends, though Rias had no idea where Saeko and Asia were.

"No choice then." Rias grunted, her shoulders straitening as she allowed her wings to appear before taking to the sky with Akeno still following, asking her what was going on. In her head however Rias was wondering why the fallen Ranma had hinted was in the area had gone after Kasumi instead of Issei.

She didn't realize that Nodoka had referred to Ranma's description of Mittelt instead of Raynare.

OOOOOOO

Saeko and Asia had left Kuoh after Saeko had finished exercising with Koneko and Kiba. The two of them wanted to take the chance to look around, and also shop for dinner that evening at a few scattered stores which Nodoka had found had the best deals. "By the way," Asia began as they left the last store, trying to sound nonchalant. "How is Ranma-nii's acclimatization training with Koneko-san?"

Saeko smiled and the younger girl, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Are you still worried she's trying to fight you for the imouto position?" she asked amused.

"No," Asia said quickly, then frowned, crossing herself before nodding. "Yes. We've sort of made our peace with one another, but not really. It just worries me, I mean he doesn't spend as much time with me any longer and… I know I sound selfish," she finished, pouting a little.

"Don't worry," Saeko soothed, squeezing the other girls shoulders, knowing how important Ranma had become to Asia and why since their unusual meeting. "Ranma will always have time for you. Didn't you say you two are going to watch that anime you wanted to watch tonight? And I thought we were all going out on a picnic tomorrow?"

"Yes, Right after my morning prayers." Asia replied, smiling now. "Tomorrow is Sunday you know."

Saeko smiled shaking your head. Like Ranma, she respected Asia's faith, though she obviously didn't follow it. "There, you see? He hasn't invited any of the others along, just you me and Kasumi and Nodoka. Just family."

"Family." Asia said, a small extremely shy smile on her face but it was also an extremely happy expression as she hugged the other girl around the waist.

The happy moment ended as Saeko stiffened, pulling Asia behind her as she noticed that there were no other people around them all of a sudden. A millisecond later she jumped up still holding Asia to her side leaving the groceries behind to crash to the road. A loud bang went off, and there was a sharp crack from where they had just been standing, as a bullet slammed into the concrete too.

Pushing Asia behind her, Saeko reached into her ki space pulling out her katana. This was not a bokken, but her family's honor blade, which she had picked up from her father the day before. Did not expect to have to use it so soon, but my father's paranoia seems to reflect reality far more than I am happy with.

Several more shots cracked out but Saeko, thanks to her training with Ranma was able was able to see the paths of the bullets even if she couldn't actually deflect them, and she dodged around them, shouting, "Grab onto my back Asia!"

Asia did so leaping up slightly to land with her legs around Saeko's waste and her arms around her shoulders. The moment she was in place Saeko turned rapidly, leaping up onto the nearest rooftop and away.

Behind her Freed and several other exercises frowned. "There was no report that purple haired girl was a devil, how'd she do that?"

One of the other shrugged. "Maybe these Japanese heathens have their own version of exorcists?"

Freed cackled. "So she's a ninja bitch instead of just a devil-worshipping bitch? Let's get after her. But I called dibs on the former holy girl, she's fallen so far, her death has to be something special!"

"Who are they?" Asia shouted over the wind of their passage, now having switched to being carried in Saeko's arms just in case their pursuers opened fire on them again. Though she was as usual when being carried at this speed, having trouble with her stomach, something Saeko noticed as she leaped from one roof to the next.

"I don't know, but the fact that they're after us and was able to use that barrier spell doesn't fill me with happiness." So saying Saeko paused briefly, changing their direction as she reached once again into her ki space, dropping Asia down onto a fire escape for just a moment. Her ki space wasn't very big, only large enough to hold a change of clothing, her katana, and her cell phone. Pulling out her cell phone, she tried to contact Ranma, only to scowl, reaching forward to pick Asia up once more leaping down into the alleyway below. "I'm not getting through. I wonder if that's a side benefit of the barrier spell?"

The how of it didn't matter now, what did matter was that Saeko was apparently on her own, facing a life or death situation with people who wanted to do her and Asia harmed. If not for Asia being there, I might actually have fun with this.

Despite that thought Saeko's body was already reacting, the adrenaline was pumping, she could feel a slight sadistic smile appearing on her face, an expression Akeno would've recognized easily. She wiped it off her face quickly however as she heard Asia's stomach gurgle, shaking her head. "All right Asia-chan, here's what we're going to do…"

They soon found a place where Asia could hide for a bit before making a break for further away from where they had initially been ambushed. After all, the barrier had to have a limited area. While she did that, Saeko slowly retraced her steps, hoping to cut their pursuers off, and Asia could not keep running as Saeko could.

Thanks to their initial start, she had left the followers slightly behind, but not very far unfortunately. Saeko hid slightly behind a chimney, waiting until a few of them she had seen from her higher vantage point had leaped onto her rooftop. They all wore the same sort of robes, being something like European monks in appearance. But they had long knives in one hand and large handguns and the other. "Damn devil worshiping slant-eyed cunt," said one of them, a derogatory phrase that made Saeko's eyebrows begin twitching in anger. "Where the hells did they go?"

She swiftly came around the chimney her katana flashing out, slicing into the wrist of one of the closest men, sending his hand flying through the air in a fountain of blood. Before the others could react Saeko turned, kicking out hard against one of the others, as she flipped her body sideways, her katana coming around again in an arc. The third tried to bring up his knife to block her attack, but her katana cut through it and into his chest. Saeko then rolled to the side before then kicking out to stop her forward momentum, avoiding a trail of bullets from the man she had previously hit, closing with him faster than he could compensate for.

Flipping her blade up behind her, Saeko thrust back, and she heard a grunt as she impacted the man back to chest. Stepping forward, she pulled her blade back out, making certain the man was dead before moving towards the man whose hand she had cut off.

He tried to pull a second gun out from his robes and point it to her as she closed. "You, you fucking devil lover, my hand, I'll…Gah!"

Saeko ignored his insults and sliced his forearm slightly, cutting the tendons on his inner arm before her blade flicked back in a return cut that opened his throat. She stared, a vicious smile growing on her face as the man died before turning away, leaping up onto the top of the chimney she had previously been using as a hiding spot to stare all around. Then she flipped backwards, dodging more bullets. "Ah, there they are."

Leaping off the top of the rooftop again she began to circle the position the bullets had come from, dodging and ducking behind cover. As she closed however she heard a voice shouted over the back but bang of the bullets. "You lot keep that devil worshipper pinned here, the ex-Sacred Girl is hiding somewhere. I'll find her and kill the little slut then come back for this one!"

Saeko's blood, which had been burning hot accompanied by a vicious grin on her face, suddenly became cold at that, and she snarled, pushing herself out of from behind the balustrade she had just using as cover to leap down into an alleyway. Grabbing an emergency fire escape ladder sticking out of the outer wall she halted her drop, her sword flashing in her other hand to shatter a window, jumping through the now open window. No time to play hide and seek with this scum now.

Behind Saeko the exorcists fired down into the alley, then two of them dropped onto the shouted at the others that they had to enter the building and smoke her out. Two of them actually did try to smoke the met her out, rappelling down the side of the building and curling smoke grenades into the broken window.

But by that point, Saeko had exited the room, someone's apartment judging from the accoutrements but thankfully this whole other dimension thing removed other people as well. I didn't think that someone could create a alternate dimension this large, not without warning Rias and the others anyway.

In point of fact, the other devils in the area had felt this dimension go up, but none of them were in a position to respond just yet. Rias and Akeno were already racing to help Kasumi and Nodoka. Koneko and Kiba had run into several traps set by a group of five exorcists to pull the Devil's attention away from the three main objectives. And, the real reason that Raynare had decided to strike this weekend, she had felt Sona Sitri and her peerage leave town on a small trip intended to get to know their latest member.

The exorcists chasing Saeko thought they had her on the run, so the first one through the door was astonished for a very brief second before her katana punched through his neck from the side, coming out the other side before she pulled it out, kicking his body back into the room into a second exorcist following closely on his heels. Her blade flashed again, and both of that one's hands were cut off near the elbow in a single economic stroke. Leaving the crippled man there was not an option, and a hammer kick to his head shattered his skull as she turned again, rushing out the door towards where she had left Asia.

Racing through the eerily empty streets she ran into ten more exorcists. Each time she had to slow down, and she cursed like a drunken sailor under her breath, but she couldn't do anything about it since each group was a threat she had to deal with. Even so, she had the advantage of knowing where Asia was going, whereas the man after her had to trail the younger girl. Saeko wasn't one to ask anyone for help, but she prayed that would be enough to let her get there in time.

OOOOOOO

Even while on Earth an Archangel could still hear echoes of prayer if they were about someone she was particularly interested in. At the same time as Saeko raced to Asia's aid, Gabriel's eyes flared with Holy light and she turned staring out over the waters of the Pacific ocean.

From her back her wings began to appear until Xenovia reached out gripping her hand. "Gabriel-sama! We've explained it to you before, you can't just fly all the way there, you know illusion spells can't fool radar for that long!"

The Archangel of the Message pouted then a cunning gleam appeared in her eyes as she remembered the other half of her title. Opening her mouth she closed her eyes and a string of words in the Holy Tongue whispered out to be carried away on the night wind. Suddenly the ship began to pick up speed, being pushing through the ocean by a massive contrary current.

Clapping her hands Gabriel turned to the two exorcists who had been chosen to accompany her. Not that that decision had been easy, since they were technically going into an area of the world where the devils, and more importantly the neutral youkai, held sway rather than the church. The fact they might be chasing the thief into a territory actually controlled by devils meant that only junior exorcists not known to anyone outside the church could be sent. Of course that didn't mean they were untrained, far from it in fact.

But Gabriel's presence had complicated matters, or would have if she hadn't just walked out the door while the archbishops had been trying to explain that to her. However Xenovia and Irina had quickly come to realize they had not only been chosen because they were so unknown to the other factions. They had also been sent along to provide Gabriel with some human style common sense. Which needless to say, she really didn't have.

"There, that should get us there faster, and no one can… You are giving me a very strange look Xenovia…" Gabriel trailed off, unable to figure out what the strange look on the human girl's face meant, but somehow knowing she was going to get another lecture about needing to act more human. She didn't really care though, all she cared about was they were going on their way faster now and thus closer to dealing out justice at and closer to the young human girl whose prayers had reached her so often.

Ignoring Xenovia as she began her lecture, Gabriel turned to face forward again, her brow creased with worry. I just hope this latest whisper of a prayer doesn't mean what I fear it might…

OOOOOOO

Asia knelt in front of a tree in the park, the same tree that she had knelt before when Ranma had convinced her she could pray anywhere. It was a special place to her because of that revelation, and she hoped that her prayer would be answered.

"How the hell do you of all people think you can pray to God gir, you think he'll forgive you? He doesn't even forgive us who kill in his name, let alone a bitch like you who turns her back on his laws!" Said a voice from behind her.

Asia turned around, still kneeling down with her hands clasped in front of her. The man standing there was a tallish sort with the same general build Ranma had, with long blond hair and a manic smirk on his face as he stared at her. There was something in his eyes that caused Asia to shiver, and that had nothing to do with the fact that he held a long knife in one hand and a large handgun in the other which he had pointed rather lazily towards her.

"I, I have always prayed to God. Even if I have been excommunicated from the church, my belief has not changed." Asia replied stoutly, meeting his manic stare despite her fear. "God will forgive those who make honest mistakes, so long as they repent. God is a loving God, not a God of war or needless death."

The man laughed, raising the hand that held his knife to his face, covering his eyes as he turned to the heavens and laughed aloud. "AHAHAHa a loving God! Ha! An honest loving God wouldn't've kicked me the hells out of the church just for doing his bidding, killing devils and devil worshipers! I mean isn't that the whole point! As for loving, ha, you healed a Devil girl! How can you claim to be sacred with that over your head!?"

"Even Devils can find God's light." Asia said simply. "I was given this power by God himself, I have dedicated my life to it, to heal anyone who needs it, regardless of what race they are. Only their deeds matter."

"So you put yourself above the church? You think you know God better than those old farts in the Vatican, aahh? You really are a heretic then, just like me!" The man said, grinning evilly. "I was going to enjoy this before, but I'm going to enjoy it even more now!"

"Somehow I doubt that," said Saeko's voice from Asia's left. The blond man turned just in time to block her first blow from bisecting his spine, his knife carrying her blade to one side as he raised his other hand with the pistol in it. Saeko however had already ducked, dodging under the trio of bullet he fired, her free hand lashing out in a punch that he blocked by lifting his leg, grunting in pain at the force of it.

"So the devil worshiping bitch was actually able to beat those b-rate exorcists huh. I don't suppose you left any of my 'friends' alive?" He asked that as if he was asking about the weather, his unconcern obvious s he lashed out with his knife, clashing it against Saeko enough to push her back.

"I'm afraid they won't be joining us," Saeko said simply, turning their locked blades around slightly, she kicked out when the man tried to bring up his gun again, catching the handgun and knocking it out of his hand. The man didn't seem dissuaded however pulling out a second blade so fast she nearly lost her leg before she could pull it back. "May I know the name of the man who's trying to kill me?" She asked.

"Freed, ex-exorcist of the Catholic Church and one of their better ones." He said smiling manically. He flourished the second blade, twirling it around in his hand for a moment before moving in. The two of them began to exchange blows, moving back and forth over the ground of the Park, as Asia remained kneeling where she had been, watching with her hands clasped together. "Asia!" Saeko said as the two of them disengaged once again. "Head towards our house as before, you should find the edge of this field eventually. Leave this one to me."

Asia nodded, getting to her feet. She knew she was being sent away again because Saeko did not want her to see how this battle would turn out one way or the other, and she didn't like being so weak, but couldn't deny that she was a target here.

"You can't protect her forever," Freed said though he made no move to attack the younger girl. Insane he might be, but Freed was skillful enough to know he had to give the girl in front of him his full attention if he wanted to win. "The moment I'm done with you I'm going to go after that girl and…

He was cut off as he was forced to dodge backwards, jerking his head back as Saeko's blade got through his defenses for just a moment, slicing away a chunk of his ear. "I think you should concentrate on the here and now, don't you?" Saeko said, her smile somewhat vicious.

Freed chuckled, raising a hand to wipe away the blood as Saeko stood back slightly. "Hehehe, true, let's have some fun, sword girl!"

With that he charged forward, his knives moving with a speed well above normal human levels, but Saeko was used to that, and her own speed was more than a match. Her single katana flashed this way and that, keeping both of her opponent's blades away from her as the two of them seemed to dance around one another.

Once or twice one of their attacks got through and soon blood was flowing from both of their bodies, with Saeko having gotten a few cuts on her forearms and one along the side of her neck, with her school uniform being sliced and shredded. The fact that Freed seemed to get a kick out of that irritated Saeko somewhat, especially when he leered at her chest when he cut her uniform enough for her black bra to be seen through the rend.

But she didn't let that bother her too much, loving this too much. Fighting Ranma was a joy and a treat, but it didn't really call to the darker portions of her soul, and despite being more of an adrenaline junkie that a sadist, Saeko could not deny that there was a part of her that was enjoying this. She would never say it aloud especially where Akeno could hear of course and she would never go out of her way to hurt someone. But in a fight, she could enjoy allow herself to enjoy it.

For his part Freed was now missing an entire ear, his face was slashed in multiple places, his body bleeding from at least a dozen slices. None of them were all that debilitating and he'd been careful to protect his eyes and the area above them so as to keep his vision clear. But even though any observer would've been able to tell who was winning the fight, he seemed to be happy. He continually pressured Saeko, thinking he was simply wearing her down, wasting his breath on constant insults directed to her and to Asia.

But Saeko had levels of speed and endurance that went beyond even that of an exorcist at this point. And despite her manic glee in the fight, she was still in control, unlike Freed.

The end came when Freed extended a thrust just a little too much, and Saeko reacted in an unusual manner. Instead of ducking underneath it or backing away entirely, she shifted only slightly to one side. Her blade moved from where it had locked with his other knife not to attack his body, which Freed had been prepared for, but the hand which held the out-thrust blade. A second later, and his thumb went flying through the air, his knife dropping to the ground.

A second later Saeko had to dodge away from a thrust that would've caught her in chest, but the man screamed in pain for the first time in the fight, shaking his hand and spreading blood everywhere. "You bitch, you bitch! My thumb how'm I supposed to kill devil worshipers with only one hand?!"

Even saying that, Freed brought up his other hand, but with one knife he was no match for Saeko's greater speed or skill. Three exchanges later, and he couldn't back away fast enough, his blade pushed out of position. The next strike from Saeko sliced open his stomach from one side to the other.

Backing away, she watched as Freed fell to his knees, his maimed hand going to his stomach as he tried to hold it together as he dropped his blade. Quickly moving forward she kicked it away, watching with a vicious smile on her face as he tried to hold in his guts.

"Why?" he said, sounding strangely lucid now in comparison to the normal manic tone he'd used during the fight. "Why would a normal human go out of their way to protect a devil worshiping bitch like that? She sinned against God!"

"Her God is not the God you believe in, if you believe in any at all. And it certainly isn't mine." Saeko said coldly, now somewhat numb after the battle her adrenaline starting to seep out of her leaving only pain and weariness behind and also rather disgusted with herself for having enjoyed it so much. There was a faint crackling noise in the air, as suddenly the spell dissipated, and turning she saw Asia, Kiba and Koneko charging toward them.

Saeko was still standing there staring at her former opponent a he expired when the others arrived on the scene.

OOOOOOO

In comparison to Saeko's fight against the exorcists, Akeno and Rias had a relatively easy time of it. Quickly throwing up a barrier of their own, the two of them hunted the exorcists who were trying to attack Kasumi and Nodoka from the sky. They were aided in this by the fact none of the exorcists could actually get close to Kasumi without losing much of their will to fight, making the exorcists easy pickings, something none of her attackers had realized until they tried to actually attack her and Nodoka in the first place.

A few of them had luck initially because for some reason Kasumi's power didn't work as well in crowds, but Nodoka had dealt with those easily enough. And in the air well above her the effect of whatever Sacred Gear was doing that was lessened immeasurably. Even tired out from their exercises earlier in the day they were well up to this.

Mittelt however was able to overcome this 'peace field' and closed with Kasumi for a moment, only to be chased off by Akeno at the last instant as the gentle Tendo dodged behind a car, avoiding her Light lance. "Damn it!" The goth loli fallen shouted angrily, zooming further into an alley and away from a bolt of lightning that would have smashed her from the skies. She had been practicing her dodging ability so could fly in an urban environment which served her well now. "Fuck this, the damn devils were supposed to have been kept away by the attack on the ex-holy girl or all the little traps those exorcist pukes set up, not on my cute little ass! The worst I was supposed to face was that blue-eyed freak of a human!"

"Ara, ara, 'cute little ass'? Is that really what someone should say about themselves?" Akeno mused from above, raining down another lightning bolt that the blonde fallen barely dodged.

"Oh shut up, that peaceful bitch and the other old lady aren't even allied with you devils, so why the hell did you come to their aid!?" Mittelt shouted back, throwing several Light lances up at the young Devil girl.

"Because they are our friends." Rias replied from right in front of Mittelt. She turned trying to change her direction on a dime, but couldn't quite dodge the ball of red energy. It sheared along her back, destroying one of her wings and sending her screaming to the ground. "And that is the only reason I need."

Even laying there Mittelt could only laugh as the two Devils stood over her. "That bitch Raynare, I guess she really did get the easy job."

"What do you mean?" Rias asked harshly, a ball of red energy in one hand.

"Heh, did you really think that useless Sacred Gear was our real target here? That we'd risk restarting the war over something as useless as that peace field or whatever it is?" Mittelt laughed again.

Rias' eyes widened in realization just as she felt a tug on her magic as someone activated a one shot contract with her. "Akeno, I'll leave this to you." With that she disappeared via a teleportation circle.

"Ara, I do wish I could enjoy this for longer but as Kasumi-san is coming closer I think I should get it over with before she comes close enough for her field to take effect. Such a pity…" Akeno raised her hand there was a bright flash, and Mittelt knew no more.

OOOOOOO

"Will you please die for me?"

Issei blinked, coming out of his reverie of seeing Yuuma-chan go through a transformation just like a magical girl into an even larger-breasted, hotter version of herself with black wings extending back from her shoulders. He had brought her to this secluded part of the park nearest his home at her request which he had gladly gone along with thinking he might get some puff-puff time even though it was only their first date. But now she seemed to be threatening him with that spear thingie and he didn't know what to think.

Then a voice roared in his head, Dodge fool! He obeyed automatically, ducking to one side as his date Yuuma-chan suddenly tried to suddenly stab him with a lance made of yellow light.

"Make it easy on yourself kid." Raynare said, stalking forward. "Don't struggle. You'll only die tired."

Issei was too rattled from hearing a voice inside his own head that obviously wasn't his to really respond to that appropriately, but got to his feet, backing away quickly. "Y-Yuuma-chan, why are you doing this, um, was it something I said or did?"

"Sorry kid, it's orders, you understand. That Sacred Gear of yours, it'd be a danger to the rest of the world if it went out of control, so it's better to kill you now rather than let you live on and become a threat."

She lunged forward but Issei dodged to one side at the last instant, missing being impaled through the heart. Instead the lance caught him in the upper arm, and he screamed, falling away and wrenching himself free. "GAHhh, it hurts!"

Raynare was about to thrust forward again at the writhing youth when she was forced to dodge backwards to avoid Ranma's flying kick, which smashed into the ground where she had been standing. The force of his landing cracked the earth for yards around, and he turned to stare at

"I warned you what would happen if you endanger other people." Ranma growled, cracking his neck. Raynare and Issei both noticed his hands were already stained with blood, and he had a small cut on his forearm, which was disappearing as they watched.

Raynare scowled, whirling her Light lances around in her hands. "You might have surprised me before human, and the others might have underestimated you, but I'm not going to make that mistake here!"

She attacked quickly, one spear aimed for Ranma's chest, the other coming in a sideways sweep. She watched as the first spear was shattered by a blue glowing hand. Ranma ducked his head slightly, letting her second pass harmlessly his return punch nearly catching her in the chest. Only a last second jump backwards prevented it from landing.

"Damn you, you bastard, don't you dare hurt Yuuma-chan's oppai, those things are all mine!" Shouted Issei, his pervert power overcoming the pain of his arm for a moment.

Raynare and Ranma actually paused, turning to him with the same look of incredulity on their faces. "Really?"

With a shake of his head Ranma turned as Raynare did, attacking as one. Raynare thought she was ready for Ranma's speed and ability to block her Light lances, but the reality was something different. Despite having trained for this moment since their first meeting she couldn't quite keep up with him, and worse, she got the impression that Ranma wasn't giving the fight his all. That was galling to Raynare's pride which as always was her weakness. She pressed forward recklessly, her defense weakening slightly.

The next second a glowing blue hand slammed into her ribs with more force than Raynare could remember being hit with in the last 200 years. She was hurled backwards, blood bursting from her mouth, but her wings fluttered slightly, righting her body in midair. Holding one hand to her stomach she soared higher, now trying to put some distance between herself and Ranma.

In her sudden panic Raynare had forgotten that Ranma was apparently as at home in the air as any fallen. She gasped as Ranma leaped upwards, ascending into the sky faster than she had. She tried to stab him with her Light lance but the human somehow used the lance as if it was solid for a second, leaping off it into a spinning kick that slammed into the top of Raynare's head, sending her plummeting downwards.

She tried to right herself, turning around only for a punch to smash into the back of her head again, and Ranma was then on her back between her wings bearing Raynare to the earth. Raynare tried to throw him off, but a hard blow to the back of her head slammed her face first into the dirt, and Raynare fell into darkness.

"Damn you, doing that to such lovely oppai, I'm so angry and jealous, I mean, angry…" Issei muttered then grimaced in agony as his arm twinged. Then he looked up as a red energy pulsed from his pocket. Reaching in, he found the paper he had gotten from that nice looking girl handing out flier by the market.

Tossing it away he was astonished to see a circle of strange symbols appear all around it. There was a flash of red energy of some kind, and suddenly Rias Gremory appeared there in all her big oppaied and red-haired glory. She looked as if she had been running or something, her hair looked somewhat sweaty to Issei's eyes, but she was still hot as hell. "Gremory-sama!?"

Rias looked around wildly, first at Issei, then at Raynare, and nearly collapsed in relief as she saw Ranma standing over her unconscious form. "Oh thank goodness for that. I have so many questions for that Maou-damned crow it's not even funny." Pushing her hair out of her eyes she looked at Ranma, ignoring Issei for the moment. "But how did you find these two Ranma?"

"I was in the area just roof hopping to clear my head you know?" Ranma looked at her and to the horror of Issei Rias blushed and looked away for a moment. "Anyway, a few monk-looking guys, I assume they're exorcists, tried to ambush me. But I dealt with those crazy bastards the way they had to be, though none of them admitted to be behind the murder I was shown a few days back. But since they were trying to lead me away from this direction I decided there was something in this direction they didn't want me to find. Then I ran into Raynare's barrier. What I don't know is why she was after Pervert #3 here."

"Pervert #3, you can't even remember my name you pretty boy bastuuhhh…." Issei growled, ending in a groan as the pain in his wound took his breath away.

Rias turned quickly, holding out a hand over Issei's arm, giving him a view of her bouncing oppai that made his eyes widen and a lecherous grin appear on his face. Looking up Rias caught both it and out of the corner of her eye Ranma's scowling angrily, a sight that brought a faint smile to her face. "I know why, and was actually going to ask you your opinion on it tomorrow but this has forced my hand."

"Issei, since tomorrow is Sunday I will send someone to bring you to the Occult Research Club, where I will explain everything that's occurred today." She straightened up, patting the younger boy on the top of his head. "For now, go home, get your head down and a good night's rest, okay?"

"I, um I guess, it is getting kind of late, I don't want my parents to worry, but um… what about Yuuma-chan?" Issei asked, somewhat lost at Rias' dismissal and his mind still not quite caught up with events.

"We'll be keeping her under lock and key for a time, I have a lot of questions for her…" Rias said, staring over at the downed Fallen Angel. Issei flinched slightly at her tone, but didn't respond, simply nodding his head and leaving the scene.

Ranma had taken the time to tie Raynare up as Rias was talking to Issei, and he hefted her body over one shoulder. "So, what else's been going on? Were you held up by more of those exorcist psychos?"

"Not me personally, no. Kiba and Koneko were, but…" Rias bit her lip, resting a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Ranma, Asia and Kasumi were both targeted by other teams of this same group. Saeko dealt with the exorcists after Asia, and Akeno and I helped Kasumi and your mother when she called. You, um, left your phone in the gym after what happened…"

The arm under Rias' hand tensed and Ranma's teeth grit, but Rias shook him gently. "Ranma after that experience in the gym anyone would have been rattled, don't blame yourself for that. No one on our side was hurt today, at least not seriously, so take that as a win."

"Okay." Ranma said after centering himself for a moment, but then he narrowed his eyes, looking at Rias. "So, the perv has a Sacred Gear of some kind?"

Rias' lips twitched, and she shook her head. "Remind me never to underestimate you basic intelligence Ranma. Yes, that's why, though if it's what we think it is, a human without any training or real endurance won't be able to handle it. That's why I wanted to talk to you about it anyway, I wanted to know how you'd feel about me offering to turn Issei into a devil. Your friendship means a lot to me, so I didn't want to risk springing that on you." She said the understatement of the century given what they had learned earlier and what it could mean in the future.

"Hmm… I gotta say I don't like it, but at least half of that's the idea of needing to deal with the perv more often. If you're right about a normal human not being able to handle whatever power he has inside him, then I'd be okay with that, so long as it was by his choice rather than your design." Ranma's eyes remained locked on Rias who nodded. "Anyway, am I invited to that meeting tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Rias replied, relieved that the confrontation she had feared hadn't occurred. "I'll swing by tomorrow and pick up both you and Saeko if you don't mind. Oh, and if you want, Akeno or I can fully activate Kasumi's Sacred Gear for her at the same time."

"I'll talk to her about it, though that sounds like a good idea to me." Ranma nodded, then frowned, looking away. "Now I need to go check in with my family. See you tomorrow Rias-chan."

The redhead nodded, smiling as she watched Ranma bound away over the rooftops before sighing, reaching down and grabbing Raynare up into her arms. "As for you, I have a very nice jail cell that should hold you just fine…"

OOOOOOO

Kasumi and Nodoka were remarkably upbeat after the attack, not having faced much combat thanks to Kasumi's Sacred Gear before Akeno and Rias had arrived. Asia was somewhat worse off, not injured in any way, but somewhat distressed by how helpless she had been. Ranma promised to teach her some endurance and agility training if nothing else, though Nodoka had promptly stepped in and said she would do that, so it was up in the air where that would be going. Saeko however kept to her room, and Ranma left to report to his minder among the police force what had occurred, which took some lying on his part to keep Rias and her group out of it. But the police were too happy that he had dealt with a apparently murderous group of foreign fanatics to look too closely at his story just yet.

Late that evening Ranma found Saeko up on top of the roof in the same position he had been the night after the Neko-ken revelation. Ranma sat next to her, and the two stared up at the full moon above them silently for several moments. At last Ranma put a gentle arm around Saeko's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Thank you for saving my little sister."

"It was my pleasure… and that is the problem. Ranma, I killed people today, humans, not Fallen Angels this time. And not only did I kill them, but I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the fight, I enjoyed the battle against that last one, the one called Freed and chopping one another into pieces. I enjoyed it far too much." Saeko sighed.

The arm around Saeko's shoulder's tightened pulling her into a fierce hug as Ranma's other hand came up, stroking into Saeko's hair. She blushed, but didn't try to break away as Ranma began to talk. "Saeko, you aren't the only one who killed today, hell I went out of my way to kill those damn exorcists. I could have taken them captive, none of them were as good a fighter as that Freed guy you tangled with, it would have been easy. But I didn't. So don't beat yourself up about that."

He sighed, shaking his head. "As for enjoying the fight and enjoying killing them, that's more troublesome, but you know what, everyone has some darkness inside them." He smirked. "Well, except for Asia and Kasumi maybe, but they're saints in human form. I know I do, I'm gluttonous, egotistical, arrogant, and I do have a vicious streak at times, though I don't often let it out."

The hand in Saeko's hair clenched and he pulled back on her hair, forcing Saeko to look up at him. "You and I've talked about this before, and nothing you've said tonight or shown me has changed my mind. You're still Saeko Busujima, samurai, not Saeko Busujima, monster. And that makes you a very important person to me, understand?"

Saeko nodded slightly, against his chest, smiling contentedly as Ranma fell silent, never relinquishing his hold around her as the night went on.

OOOOOOO

That night Issei fell asleep exhausted despite not actually having done much more than dodge a few time, his mind and body were still exhausted from what he had gone through. He worried he might have nightmares after his close brush with death, but his dream was something entirely different. Instead of a nightmare of Yuuma-chan or all the girls at school suddenly growing black wings and attacking him, he found himself on a mountain somewhere, surrounded by woodland.

Not that Issei noticed the actual setting, all his attention was taken by the other living creature in sight. Though he couldn't really be blamed for that, since said creature was a giant, monstrously large, red dragon. It sprawled there on the ground, it's red-rimmed gaze locked on Issei. "So, this is my supposed wielder. Hmm…I am Ddraig, the great Welsh and I think we need to talk Hyoudou Issei."

End Chapter

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From now on Issei will start to move into being an actual character rather than part of a recurring joke. I will be changing his personality quite a bit going forward thanks to that last scene, but we'll see how much when we get to it. Thinking about that, and the overall timing of the main plot is why this story is not on January's poll. I want to think about how to space out all the canon plots, my changes to it, and if I should introduce a few other characters sooner or wait until after Kokabael shows up. That, and what Ranma being connected to the chaos magic of Jusenkyou means, I have so many ideas just need to pick one. Spirit trainers, actual magic whose effects he can't control, a whole new realm of magic, or something else entirely…

Anyway, that's it for now. If you want to impact what stories I work on per month going forward more than a vote, please check out my P at tron site. Signing up there will also allow you to access my One Piece/ Ranma crossover fic, and the latest chapter of Herd in Space which I posted over there as well.