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

7. Unwanted Discoveries

I can't draw, so my name's not Takahashi, nor are the Devils my cup of tea.

Author's notes:

As all of you should know by now (except any new readers I have, hello) I use a poll here and over on pat a ron to decide what long and what short story I will be updating in any given month. This month in first place was this story, with 1098 total votes. While on Fanfic it only won 178 votes, the rest of it's votes came from me, as author, and from my pat a rons. I wanted to update this story since it has been nearly half a year since it was updated, and have decided that is how I am going to use my votes in the future - to push stories which I am still working on that haven't been updated in some time.

In second place in case you are wondering was A Third Path to the Future. It took in 954 votes, coming in first on fanfic with 306 votes and taking in the rest over on pat a ron. I will have that work finished by the end of the month, though I will have an announcement for that story when I do.

This has been edited by Michael, one of my pat a rons, so you should find far fewer mistakes as usual after his work. Thank him for that please!

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Gods and devils 7 Unwanted Discoveries

As his tale finished, Ranma leaned back in the chair staring at the police captain and the Nerima native, Kento. Rias had not been happy when he told her he'd be informing the police about what had happened, even with his promise to not actually give out any names. But he couldn't have kept things secret. If it had just been the confrontation with Raynare, that might've been possible, even a good idea. But Saeko had left too many bodies littering the rooftops and back alleys during her running fight with the exorcists, all of which had appeared out of nowhere after the alternate dimension spell or whatever it was had collapsed. Ranma had left a few bodies behind too as he raced to save Issei, but nothing in comparison to the swordswoman. "And that's what happened."

"I really, really don't want to believe anything you've just told us!" groaned the police captain, actually holding his head in his hands. "All this cult nonsense; devils, fallen angels, excommunicated exorcists; it can't be real, can it?"

"I think you're showing your American training there, sir," Kento cautioned, leaning back slightly in his chair. "The occult's always been considered real in Japan for a given value, and we can't afford to blind ourselves to it. I'll admit that I don't like the idea of these two occult factions making war on our soil, but there's nothing we can really do to stop them, is there?"

"I don't know," Ranma replied with manifest reluctance once he understood that the question was directed to him. "I'm getting the distinct impression at times when I talk to the local leaders of the more peaceful faction that they are small fry when it comes to their factions, at least in terms of power level. So…probably not."

Ranma was not mentally prepared to admit that he could not handle anything or anyone, a holdover from a lifetime of Genma's indoctrination. However he had come a long way, and knew that pure power could overcome his skill. In the case of Rias's brother, that was almost certainly the case.

"That and the number of spells they can use to manipulate people's senses and minds," he said aloud as an afterthought. After all, they didn't affect him, and Ranma figured that if a martial artist could see through those kinds of spells, other people could be trained to do the same.

"The problem is that this isn't the first time the occult has come to our attention of late. The government is getting very nervous about increasing tensions between these factions. Or perhaps an entirely new fraction appearing on the scene," said a fourth voice, and Ranma turned.

Ranma had not been introduced to the fourth man in the room. In fact Ranma had been very pointedly not introduced to him, something which in Japanese culture was rather telling. He had figured the man for some kind of high muckety-muck in the government, and from what little Ranma remembered about business dealings, that meant he shouldn't be speaking at all. That he was meant either Ranma's assumption on that point was wrong, or he had something very important to say that could not be said by the police, above and beyond admitting that the government as a whole knew about the Three Factions.

The man in question was a spare, elderly gentleman, a little older than Genma or Soun, with graying hair that he tried to hide via artificial coloring, hard, shifty eyes, and somewhat sallow skin. The kind of skin someone had if they did not spend much time out in the sun, not the type of someone who was ill. He wore a very well-tailored suit which obviously should have had a tie to go with it.

But the tie was gone, probably in some kind of misplaced belief that going tieless would make Ranma feel any more comfortable around the man than he did. It failed. Regardless of the lack of tie this man exuded governmental authority, and Ranma did not do well with authority.

Which he showed with a sort of studied air of nonchalance as he leaned back, actually propping his feet up on the police captain's desk to lean back slightly so he could look at all three of the other men in the room at once without turning his head. "So, what all else's been going on?" he drawled.

"Besides the string of murders, which we are in the process of solving even now, there have been several videos released recently online of various supernatural events. Fights, for one thing, and unfortunately most of them stood up to all of our tests to make certain whether or not they were CG-created," the man replied, ignoring the police captain's angry growl at Ranma's feet being on his desk. "The Nerima protocols are still in place, so the public is not aware of them, but we are.

"We also have a somewhat tenuous alliance with the Youkai Association. I presume I don't need to explain the term?" Ranma snorted, and the man went on blandly. "There was an attempted kidnapping of the Association's daughter recently, which was stopped by a force of Miko priestesses at the cost of their own lives."

"Priestesses?" Ranma asked with a frown, his studied nonchalance fading.

"Yes. There are several families of priests and priestesses whose spiritual powers still exist today. One of them is a medium. She predicted the kidnapping, while others are more combat-oriented. They didn't stand much of a chance against the kidnappers, though. From the reports I saw the priests and priestesses were slaughtered, only able to slow the kidnappers down. But they bought time for the girl's mother to arrive, and when she did she was able to scare the attackers off."

"Do we have any information on who tried to do the kidnapping?" Ranma asked. "Devils, Fallen Angels, Angels, or some other faction among the three main ones?"

The government man was silent for a moment before replying with manifest reluctance. "…We think it was another faction among the devils thanks to a few of the individuals involved, but most of them were human, or at least appeared to be human. And for certain the humans were the ones giving the orders. A blond European man seemed to be in charge. He spoke with a distinct British accent, but the Brits haven't gotten back to us on helping us identify him."

"So, a human faction is getting involved in causing chaos between the other factions. Great. NOT!" Ranma muttered, slamming his head against the back of his seat.

"Because of this the government is interested in trying to create a strike-force to deal with occult issues. We're still working on the details, but we are looking for people to join it. If that occurs we might put you on full time retainer."

Ranma shrugged. "That'll be better than going to school, so count me in." Then he smirked. "So long as you're willing to explain why I'm no longer in school to my mother."

Kento smirked making a whipping noise, and Ranma turned to glare at him. "You've seen my mom and my old man. Would you prefer I take after him, or be a mama's boy?"

"Point," said all three of the men facing Ranma, and he laughed, seeing his old man's reputation had gone before him.

OOOOOOO

The Japanese police were indeed closing in on what they thought was a serial killer, possibly with a cannibalistic bent. Such things were well beyond the purview of the regular Japanese policeman on the street, so they had called in the Japanese version of SWAT. These were professionals who were trained to an exacting standard, more like Rangers or spec ops teams then any police unit, who went under the name of the Special Assault Team.

A full team was called in once the police figured out the murderous cannibal's current hiding place. Now they pushed slowly through the shrubbery around a deserted dilapidated house, more a small mansion than anything else, left to decay on the outskirts of a small farming village.

Despite the seriousness of their mission one of them could not stop himself from shaking his head as he stared at the mansion. "You'd think with how high prices for land and housing are these days this kind of place would have been just sailing off the market."

"Apparently it's been haunted for decades. People are stupid like that," said another man, his voice muffled by his balaclava.

"Not half as stupid as you two for talking this close to our target," said the team's captain sweetly, his teeth clenched. "You're both on report, and I'll have you both cleaning the base toilets for a month each. For now, Kirishima, you're on point."

The man who had been named Kirishima nodded. He'd have been on point anyway thanks to being the best shotgun and room clearance specialist they had, but the rest wasn't nearly as welcome. "Yes, sir," he said, his voice monotone.

"Rika, you have cover?" the captain went on, speaking into his mike.

"I do, sir," said a female voice, its tone measured, calm, yet also oddly playful. The source, the only woman on the team, was currently behind and to the left of the rest of the team. "And my partner's ready to lob smoke grenades in."

The captain frowned, examining the house in front of him and comparing it to the pictures he'd seen in the briefing, then at the clouded sky. "Negative on smoke," he said finally. "I don't think we're going to need that added cover to the darkness. Go for flashbangs instead."

"Roger on flashbangs," said another voice, this time the voice of Rika's partner. His voice was also almost playful. Serious, but showing none of the tension the rest of the team was feeling. And why should he? The two of them were supposed to keep well back from the actual action, providing cover as they could.

Yet the moment her partner stopped talking, Rika pointed out a worrying fact. "Boss, I've looked for any angle I could use to fire into the building, but there's no one place that would let me fire into more than one room, and most of the first floor windows are boarded up. I can't see anything through them, and there doesn't seem to be any movement on the second floor."

"Roger. Lob flashbangs through the window over the main door, then follow in and wait outside the main door for us to call," the captain ordered.

By this point the first two specialists were at the door. The captain and two more men quickly joined them. Once there, the captain motioned with his hands, signaling in code what each man's tasks would be when they burst down the door.

The door they were currently using was one that should lead into the kitchen of the mansion, where they thought they would find evidence of the person they were after. They weren't looking forward to that, of course, given the cannibalistic nature of the serial killer in question. But it would also allow them some cover from which to move further into the mansion rather than busting down the main door into the hallway. Which, going by what little information about the interior they'd been able to find, was open territory.

After all his men indicated that they were ready, the captain held up three fingers, then two, then clenched his fist.

The two men on the small battering ram slammed it home into the door, then stood back quickly, dropping it as two other men, one of whom was Kirishima, raced forward followed by the captain who took position in the center. The first two men spread out to either side facing left and right respectively as the captain faced forward, followed by the two other men in the team, fully automatic machine guns at the ready.

The captain had a semi-automatic rifle, while the other two men had M35 Ithaca shotguns, guns which specialized in dealing a lot of damage up close and personal. None of the SAT were interested in taking this bastard, or bastards, whichever the case may be, prisoner.

"Clear!" shouted one of the men, quickly followed by the other.

"Clear," the captain said, looking around. "Moving in." Thankfully for his and his troops' stomachs and noses, there actually wasn't much evidence in the kitchen of anyone living here. Everything had a fine patina of dust and grime on it. Nowhere was there any evidence of someone actually using any of the appliances or even walking around in here.

Nodding in barely hidden relief, the captain spoke into his headset again.

Outside, Rika's partner had fired off two grenades, both flashbangs, up into the window set directly over the main entrance to the mansion, having them go off instantly. As they heard the all clear on the radio, both he and Rika moved in. She dropped her Ar-10 rifle as she moved forward, pulling out twin Desert Eagles as her partner dropped the grenade launcher, switching it with a shotgun.

The two of them were nearly to the front door when the screams began. There was also the sound of tearing paper or something coming over the headset, and then the captain shouting, "What the fuck!? What is she? What is itTT!"

"Demon!" shouted another voice, this time that of the unnamed heckler who had bantered with Kirishima, a man named Hise, who Rika knew as one of the coolest customers under fire in any of the SAT teams. Hise's coolness was gone now, his voice nearly a shriek as he shouted out once more. "Demon!"

The sound of gunfire rang out, drowning out even more screams that they could hear now not only over the radio but over the distance and the walls separating them.

To his credit Rika's partner wasted no time, hurling a grenade ahead of them to land precisely right in front of the door. The explosion blew the door it off its hinges and they entered swiftly, jumping over the wreckage and through the smoke.

Inside they found their team fighting something they'd never dreamed of, let alone prepared for. It really did look like a demon, a female one, with the upper body of a woman with proportions that most women would have been envious of. The rest of her, however, was hideous. The lower half looked like a malformed, almost diseased snake body, while her arms ended in large multi-jointed claws. Her face too was twisted, looking something like a woman's, only elongated in unusual and freakish ways, her eyes slanted almost to the point of a snake's. Her hair was purple, the only normal thing about her, except for the fact it seemed to rise and move under its own volition.

The demon was, however, bleeding. As they watched one of their teammates unloaded a round of buckshot straight into the thing's side, blowing off chunks of it in a bloody slurry before ducking to one side as the demon-thing turned, hissing and clawing at where he had stood.

It was bleeding, and that was all Rika and her partner needed to know, and they charged forward to join the fight .

"It's ssssso nice, ssssso nice that my next meal comes to me. Yet you're ssssso noissssy!" The voice emitting from that inhuman, fanged mouth was whiny, yet somehow sultry. It didn't sound in pain at all, and as the humans watched its wounds slowly began to heal.

While her partner continued to run forward Rika began to fire at the thing with her pistols. The heavy bullets did a lot of damage, but the demon didn't seem to notice other than emitting a louder hiss.

Instead one of its clawed hands came up to play with a breast for some reason. Then it started tweaking its nipples, and something shot out a one of their teammates who had taken refuge by the banister.

The banister melted, as did the man who had been hiding behind it. He shrieked in agony, convulsing and falling to his knees as his skin began to turn into a puddle at his feet.

"Damn you!" shouted the captain, rolling out of the doorway where he'd been hiding and firing from the hip.

Rika's partner now skidded to a halt, raising his Ithaca and blasting heavy rounds into the demon's back. Yet despite the damage they were doing to it, the demon ignored them, picking up the remains of one of the others who had been filleted alive, stuffing what looked like a piece of intestine into her mouth and moaning sensuously.

"That'ssss the good sssstuff!" she muttered, before turning back as Rika raced closer, moving into the demon's line of sight for the first times. Seeming to recognize Rika as another woman the thing reacted in an almost territorial manner, roaring out angrily at her, pushing itself to it's full height. "It's rude to interrupt a lady's meal, you bitch!"

Rika began to fire both pistols, not at the thing's main body now, but at her face, which finally made the thing flinch away. "How rude you are!"

The gun expert barely heard the shout of, "Rika! Dodge left!" but she followed it automatically. A bare millisecond later she heard a whistling sound above her head, the thing's tail having whipped around in the gloom of the mansion's hall to nearly decapitate her. She ducked backwards in an attempt to avoid a slashing attack from one of the demon's claws. Yet the attack still hit her thigh, sending Rika crashing to the ground as her thigh gave out, pierced by one of the thing's claws.

Even so Rika's aim didn't falter as she found her target. A bullet smashed into the thing's eye, causing it to scream and rear back, its fanged mouth wide open, and Rika's next bullet from her other pistol found its mouth, entering and exploding out the back of its neck.

Its spine severed, the demon fell like a puppet with it's strings cut. But even so it was still twitching, and Rika and the others could see it slowly healing once more.

"Its heart! Blow out its brain and its heart!" said the captain desperately. "Nothing can survive that!"

The demon, demoness, or whatever it was seemed to understand that, and also seemed to have some motor control left. It began to spasm around and also shot out streams of that milk acid from its breasts trying to keep the troopers away.

This did not stop the captain, however. Enraged at the loss of his men, he raced forward under one of those streams, hissing as a few drops hit his back and shoulders, but he got in close enough to thrust a grenade into the demon's mouth.

He leaped away, rolling and hurling his jacket off as quickly as he could. This wasn't quickly enough to keep the acid from biting into his skin slightly, but it was enough to keep the injury to a minimum as behind him the grenade went off.

Now completely headless, the demon still twitched, but Rika and her partner walked up to it and emptied both her pistols and his magazine into the thing's chest, before standing back as the thing began its final spasms.

The three survivors stepped back. Rika fell back onto her rear as her leg gave out on her again. Her partner leaned down, pulling out what looked like a long fingernail or rather a claw, which had embedded itself in the skin of her thigh. "What the fuck was that!"

"Sure as hell wasn't human," Rika replied, shaking her head. "Whatever it was, it was also damn tough!"

"I, I have no idea what to say about any of this. What the fuck did we stumble into here?" the captain muttered, staring first at the body of the demon, then over at his four men who had died fighting the thing.

Finally his eyes looked over into a corner of the mansion's hall. Something, probably the demon itself, had dug a hole there, and it was full nearly to the brim with human bones.

"I don't know what the fuck that was," he said, his voice a snarl of rage, "but I am definitely going to find out and then learn how to better kill other shit-stains like it!"

OOOOOOO

The next day found Ranma and Saeko walking to the old school building together after the half-day of class was finished. Asia was not with them since she and her new club mates were heading over to the Saotome house, where they would have some snacks and go about her new club's activities. Then too, Asia probably didn't need to be involved in this any further since she was a staunch pacifist, and the attack on her had been meant to be a simple feint.

Inside the Occult Research Clubroom they found Rias and Akeno waiting for them along with Raynare, who was tied to one chair with her mouth muffled. Much to Rias's displeasure Akeno had killed the other fallen angel. She would have rather taken both of them alive. For one thing, politically it was bad idea for her, a member of a prominent noble house among devils, to be involved in killing a fallen angel anyway. And for another they could've questioned them both separately to see if their stories matched.

But Rias was willing to admit that it was her fault for leaving her friend behind, knowing how Akeno felt about fallen angels. She even said so in her initial report to her brother, owning up to that mistake rather than let Akeno take the heat for it.

"Hey Rias," said Ranma, nodding to the redhead as he sat down. "Is this all who's joining us, or are we still waiting for other people?"

"We're waiting for Kiba and Koneko of course, as well as Sona and Tsubaki. This city is her territory too, after all, so Sona needs to be involved in this discussion. I sent Kiba to get Issei just a moment ago, though I don't know how long that will take him."

Rias trailed off, frowning, as Saeko sashayed into the room sitting next to Ranma, actually leaning a little bit into his side. Scowling, Rias moved from leaning against her desk against the far wall of the clubroom to sit down on the same sofa despite there not being really room for three people on it. She had to sit half on Ranma's lap to fit.

As Ranma looked at her in surprise, she smiled innocently at him, a look Rias could pull off surprisingly well. "We have to conserve seating, after all. There are more people coming."

Saeko glared at Rias across Ranma's chest for a moment though both girls broke that stare to look over at Akeno when she let loose a giggle, one hand rising up to cover her mouth. "Oh, don't mind me," she said sweetly, her eyes glittering with amusement. "Please continue."

Rias scowled at her friend but chose to ignore her for now. Instead she settled herself as comfortably as she could, throwing one arm around Ranma's shoulders as she leaned back, ostensibly to get more comfortable.

This quickly prompted Saeko to do the same on Ranma's other side, though she felt somewhat guilty about it knowing how Ranma felt about women fighting over him like this. Even if they really weren't. Not yet, anyway.

For his part Ranma simply sighed, leaning back, then surprised both of them by putting his own arms around their waists for a brief second. A moment later his arms retreated, and he gently squeezed Saeko into one side of the sofa so he could move in that direction and let Rias sit on the actual sofa rather than his lap.

All three of them were somewhat uncomfortable like this, but none of them made a move to leave before the door opened to reveal Koneko, Kiba, Sona, and Tsubaki. Koneko stopped in the doorway, glaring in her normal impassive way at what was going on. She would've liked to sit next to the Sunbeam Boy too!

And I'm smaller than Rias, she thought vindictively. We could all have sat comfortably there that way. She thought about moving to sit on Ranma's lap, but decided that would probably be taking things a step too far, especially with how Rias and Saeko were pressing into him from either side.

Only Akeno saw Koneko's irritation, and once again the Sadist Queen giggled behind her hand.

For her part Sona didn't care about what was going on between her friend and the insane martial artists. Instead she simply pushed past Koneko and flopped down on the sofa next to Akeno, her normal graceful movements gone. While her friends watched in something approaching shock, both of Sona's hands rose seemingly of their own accord to cover her face.

At the same time Tsubaki moved to stand behind the desk, glaring at where Raynare was tied up to another chair.

Seeing her friend so out of sorts, Rias asked hesitantly, "Sona, is something wrong? Um, I mean, beyond the whole fallen angels acting out in our territory topic. You didn't look nearly as out of sorts last night after we started to clean up after that issue."

Sona wordlessly shook her head, not letting her hands fall from her face just yet.

After waiting a moment to make certain her King wouldn't speak, Tsubaki took it upon herself to answer. "It's nothing to do with that Gremory-sama. It's…" She paused, looking at her King for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Her sister, Leviathan-sama, has apparently come to Earth."

"What!?" Rias shouted, standing up abruptly from the sofa and staring aghast at Tsubaki then Sona. "What do you mean Serafall's come to Earth?!"

"That's all we know!" Sona said, letting her hands fall from her face for a moment to glare across at her friend. "It apparently happened a few days ago, but they were hoping Serafall-sama come here to see me so there would be no point in reporting it. But she hasn't."

"Well…she is a sis-con," Rias said, wincing a little. "Whenever my brother or your sister disappear, it is a safe bet to assume they'd come here."

The two women looked at one another, commiserating in the misery of having crazy and embarrassing as hell siblings for a moment before Rias shook her head. "But if she's not here yet, where is she?"

"I don't know! Father said she was looking for some kind of rival or other, but wouldn't tell me who. On the other hand, her movie studio apparently received a tape of 'Levia-tan.' You know, her adventures as a magical girl thing, which put her down near Kyushu," Sona replied, groaning.

"Oh…." Rias said, frowning in thought. "I don't know anything there that could interest her."

"Neither do we, nor do the Yokai Association, though they were rather short with us when we asked. But that was where the video was filmed."

"I'm missing something here," Ranma said, holding up a finger. "Is this something that's gonna land in our laps?

"Yes," said every devil in the room before looking at one another and letting out a wan chuckle.

Ranma blinked slowly. "Okay, so who is this Leviathan, or Serafall?"

"That title sounds biblical to me," Saeko supplied.

"It's a form of address for one of the Five Maou. They are the five strongest devils in existence, super S-class, all of them. Serafall Sitri is without a doubt the strongest woman in the underworld, though my brother's Queen, Grayfia, comes in at a close second," Rias supplied.

Ranma stared at her deadpan. "Did you just use the same method they use in Naruto to figure out threat levels?"

"Yep, though I wasn't the first. Beelzebub and my brother were the ones who got it accepted years back. It was my nii-sama who got me into Naruto in the first place," Rias said happily.

"Rias, Rias, Rias," Ranma sighed, shaking his head sadly. "So sad. You've fallen into the emo-ninja trap."

"Stop calling him that!" Rias huffed, sitting down and thumping her shoulder against Ranma's hard enough to send a normal human flying. Ranma simply grunted a little, not moving at all.

"So is this something that's going to happen to land in our laps today, or do we have time to prepare? And prepare for what exactly?" Saeko asked clinically.

"Serafall is…" Sona said, waving her hand as if she was trying to conduct an orchestra as she tried to get her thoughts into place. "She is monstrously powerful and utterly without any sense of maturity or position. She goes around looking almost like a little girl most of the time and she has no sense of decorum or anything of that nature. But she won't start a fight. That's not her passion."

"Serafall might drag a few of you, especially you, Ranma, into appearing in her magical girl show. But other than that show she mostly make issues for us all by embarrassing the hell out of Sona and by extension anyone else nearby," Rias said dryly.

"I wish to Maou I could dispute that!" Sona scowled at her friend. "See if I give you any sympathy when your brother shows up again."

"You never gave me sympathy in the first place," Rias retorted, and the two Kings glared at one another before breaking out into giggles as they leaned back. Akeno smiled happily at them as did Tsubaki, though the in-joke went over the two humans' heads and Koneko simply kept on eating a bag of sweets she had brought in.

The sight of that made Saeko blink then she reached into her backpack. "By the way, Nodoka and Kasumi gave us some food to share with you all as thanks for your help yesterday."

From her bag Saeko pulled a six-tiered bento box of black lacquer which she set on the table, taking the top off of each segment and setting them out one after another. One of them was full of sweets, two others full of lunch time meals, and three of side dishes. It was enough food there to feed six or seven normal people.

Ranma's hand flashed forward, grabbing a rice ball and biting into it, waving over Koneko. "Kasumi's promised pancakes if you all want to follow us back to our house for the day, after this meeting."

You could almost see Koneko's hair twitch despite her normal illusion. She nodded eagerly, reaching forward to take up one of the other rice balls.

For a moment the group just ate and talked quietly with Ranma sharing what he had been told by the police last evening. The fact that the government knew about their factions was nothing new, both Rias and Sona had assumed that after they saw what the government had put in place in terms of keeping Ranma and the rest of Nerima under wraps. The fact that they felt some other faction was making trouble for all of the existing ones was new, and the fact that humans were involved was a worrying sign.

"Before I met you, Ranma, I would've assumed they were Sacred Gear users. Now I'm not certain about that," Rias muttered. "I wonder what their game is." She was also wondering if she should sent word of this to her family, but decided against it. None of them would be happy to know how much the Japanese government knew about the Factions, and they might try to pull her and Sona back to the Underworld.

"Good for you, putting yer prejudices aside like that," Ranma praised with a small, mocking smirk, squeezing Rias's thigh and completely missing her blush at the touch before he turned back to Sona and the others. "The police don't know what kind of faction they are, but it's positive that they're not acting on any government's orders."

He went on after a moment spent chewing his food thoughtfully. "The Youkai Association is apparently pissed at the near kidnapping, and you know it's bad when a government rep uses a word like that to describe something. They've even agreed to send a representative to this new anti-occult squad the government wants to put together. They also will want me to join, and I put your name forward too, Saeko."

Saeko's eyes lit up eagerly, and she leaned up to kiss Ranma on the cheek. "Thank you for that," she whispered. "A chance to use our skills like that for a real purpose, of course I'll jump at the chance!"

Seeing that and Ranma's blush at the touch Rias bit back a growl, frowning as she thought about her own feelings at the moment. What the hell? I'm not even involved with him! I can't feel jealous!

Her thoughts were interrupted at that point as someone knocked respectfully on the club door. "Come in," Rias called out, turning to look at the doorway.

The door opened to reveal Kiba and Issei. Kiba looked immaculate as usual, smiling as he stepped into the room, while Issei looked as if he'd had a bad night of it after his near-death at Raynare's hands. There were even bags under his eyes, and he didn't step so much as shamble forward.

Stepping into the room Issei stopped, staring. Life began to return to his face and eyes while actual drool appeared on his chin as he took in the sight before him. Right here in front of him were a large portion of the hottest girls of the school. Oh my God, it's like a who's who of hotness! They were all here: Akeno's amazing oppai; Sona's slim, pure, cool beauty; and Tsubaki who was second only to Akeno in her standing as a true Yamato Nadeshiko. Even Koneko, the ultimate moe loli, was here! And, oh my God, there's Rias's and Saeko's perfect bo…dies…

Seeing Rias and Saeko began to bring Issei back to Earth. Seeing them alone would of course have been fine, but they were sitting to either side of that bastard Ranma, pressing into him from both sides. Oh-my-God, it looks like they're sharing him or something!

"Oh my God, you bastard!" he shouted, pointing at Ranma. "I am so fucking jealous of you right now! First you're a pretty boy, then you're strong on top of that, and now, now you have the new Sexy Swordlady and one of the two Great Ladies of Kuoh pressing up against you like that. You fucking bastard, feeling those sexy oppai pressing into you like that I, I, GAHHHHH!"

"Pervert," Koneko muttered, shrinking a little in her chair and scooting toward Sona's side a little, knowing that the Sitri heir had little patience for such things, unlike the other person sitting on the sofa with them.

Indeed, Akeno giggled behind her hand, a "Fufufu" sound, sitting up and thrusting her chest out more to see Issei's reaction. Yet she said nothing, watching Ranma for his response.

It was not long in coming. A loud reverberation of sound came from deep in Ranma's chest, and his blue eyes became ice cold as he leaned forward. He held up a single finger pointing it at Issei. This wouldn't have actually been intimidating, if not for the fact the finger began to glow blue and gold. "Stick your eyes back in your head perv, or lose them!"

For some reason, seeing Issei looking at either girl sitting with bothered the hell out of Ranma. With Saeko it was pretty obvious as to why that would be the case. The two of them were now practically dating, even if neither of them had formalized things. Why Issei looking at Rias like that bothered him so much Ranma didn't know, but he wasn't about to question it.

Issei backed away quickly, his eyes roving wildly around the rest of the room, only now noticing where his would-be killer was tied to a chair behind the desk at the far end of the room. Despite the fact that she was tied up like in some of his hentai magazines the sight still made him squeak in fright, hopping back towards the door. "What is she doing here?!"

"You're here to get an explanation of what kind of world you've stumbled into, pervert," Ranma growled. "She's here to answer some questions as to why she attacked you. Now sit down somewhere and shut up."

"Ranma, you don't have to scare him just because you don't like how he acts," Rias said cajolingly, patting his thigh. Inwardly however she was both touched and gratified that Ranma seemed to have risen up to 'protect' both her and Saeko from Issei's attentions.

"Let's get this part over with first," she went on, standing up reluctantly before moving to stand in front of where Issei had sat down on the floor. "Issei, I know you have a lot of questions right now, so I want you to listen very carefully, okay?"

Gulping, Issei looked up from where he was sitting on the floor, trying his hardest to not let any drool show as he stared at Rias's gently swaying breasts. He tried to concentrate on her face, but, but her glorious oppai were just hovering there, swaying! Like he could just reach out and…

Oy, gaki! You better concentrate on what the redhead is saying or else that weird human might just cave your head in, and then we'd both be shit out of luck. Besides, you might just learn something.

The voice from inside his own head snapped Issei out of his lustful fugue, and he nodded his head rapidly, staring up at Rias's face. "Um, sure. I'm listening!"

Rias nodded before taking in a deep breath, which caused Issei to start to pant as he saw what that did to her chest. Two black wings appearing from Rias' back however took his attention away from her oppai for a brief moment. "There's no easy way to say this, so I might as well just show you. You see, Issei, some of us, indeed most of the people in this room, are devils."

She went on to explain what devils were and what Raynare was, touching only briefly on the third faction, though Ranma interrupted at that point. "Asia-chan is a follower of the Catholic faith. She knows about and accepts Rias's and the others', um… devilhood, I guess you could say? She's excommunicated from the Church, but still believes in the big guy in the sky. But one of the things that've come out since we came here is that saying the G-word in front of devils causes them pain, so be careful about that."

Nodding, Issei looked at Ranma and Saeko. "I understand that, and I suppose it makes sense for you two to not be human, but why do you not hiieeeeeee…." He trailed off, staring in horror as Ranma's entire body began to glow blue. Next to him Saeko's body began to glow a light but almost eye-searing violet as she manifested her battle aura for the first time.

"Ara, I would not make that accusation if I were you, Issei," Saeko said, scowling at the pervert. "Both myself and Ranma are human and proud of it. We are martial artists, and have trained our bodies well past the norm through blood and sweat and tears. That is why we can do what you have seen us do in the past, not because we were born with a leg up." She looked at the devils around her. "No offense meant."

Gulping, Issei nodded hurriedly, agreeing with Saeko as visibly as he could in order to stave off her and Ranma's anger. It worked, and after a moment Issei nodded his head toward where Raynare was tied up. "Okay, I get all that. But, but what did she want to kill me for?" Given his visitation last night and the voice in his head, Issei had a pretty good idea, but he wanted to hear it spoken aloud.

"We don't know what it was about, but it was a very well-coordinated attack, with two other attacks launched at the same time to take our attention away from you. So they definitely think that whatever Sacred Gear you have inside you is important," Sona said, speaking up for the first time since Rias had started her explanation. She genteelly touched her napkin to her lips, looking over at Ranma and Saeko. "That was very tasty. I might want to meet your mother and ask her for her recipes."

Rias turned and stared at the remains of the bento boxes spread out over the table set in front of the two sofas. "AHH! You, I, it's all gone! I only had a few bites! You, you meanies!"

"Snooze you lose," Koneko muttered around the last thing from the boxes, a mame-daifuku that Ranma had said Nodoka had made just for her.

Rias pouted, uniting Ranma and Issei for just a moment as both of them had the thought that it was one of the cutest, yet strangely sexiest, expressions either had ever seen. "Meanies."

Shaking his head after getting a mental nudge from the voice in his head, Issei spoke up, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "Um, well, I sort of already had figured out about the Sacred Gear thing, even if all that stuff about the Factions and everything were new to me."

"Oh? How is that, Issei-kun?" Rias asked intently, while behind her Sona and the other devils also sat up and looked at him more seriously.

"Um, well, that is what he says he is, anyway. Erm, after I went to sleep last night, this, this huge dragon appeared in my mind and told me his name was Ddraig?" Issei asked hesitantly, unused to being stared at like this. It was interesting having so many girls with their delicious oppai taking an interest in him, but it was also kind of scary, and made him remember the times the kendo club would come after him and his friends for their manly pursuits.

The shocked gazes his words evoked from the devils and even the tied up Raynare were gratifying though. Heh, am I really that awesome?

Bah, it's not you that's awesome, brat. Not yet. It's my name that's awesome. Centuries might have gone by, but none can ever forget the Great Red! The voice in his head chortled, and for just an instant Issei was assaulted by a smell of ash on the wind.

"D, Ddraig!?" Rias shouted, staring at Issei. "That's amazing! The Great Red, one of the Longinus Sacred Gears, a Sacred Gear capable of killing gods! No wonder Raynare wanted to kill you."

"I don't think she knew about that," Ranma interjected, pointing at Raynare, who twitched. While the others had been looking at Issei, Ranma had been watching Raynare. "She looked as surprised about the whole dragon thing as the rest of you were."

Rias frowned, then moved over to Raynare, removing her gag and glaring at the Fallen Angel. "Well, is that true?"

Staring up at the Gremory heir and then around at the others in the room, Raynare had a brief thought about trying to lie or maybe bluff her way out of here. But given the number of devils and devil sympathizers here she doubted she would be able to. Raynare huffed and worked her jaw for a moment to gain some time, but eventually she shook her head. "I, I was told to get close to Hyoudou and see if there was any sign of his having a Sacred Gear, and if there was to kill him. According to what I was told, his Sacred Gear is so powerful that no human can truly activate it. The best a human could do would be to become a ticking time bomb that would eventually explode."

"Hmm, methinks you were lied to," Saeko murmured watching Rias replace the gag in Raynare's mouth while Issei yelped, skittering back on the floor.

Rias then flicked her hand out and down. At her command a magical circle enveloped Raynare, enclosing her in glass.

Saeko looked at this quizzically, but decided to continue speaking, drawing Issei's attention back to her. "Ranma and I are proof positive that humans can be much stronger than you think they can be. I would wager we could handle this Longinus. If not now, then with sufficient training."

"Yeah, well it ain't so simple girlie. Not anymore, and at least half of it is because of your boyfriend there," a voice growled out from Issei's mouth.

It was most definitely not Issei, however. Issei's voice was a relatively normal one unless he was talking about oppai, when it sounded like a madman speaking about his obsession. This voice was powerful, each word a snarl accompanying a bit of a hiss, and with every word a smell of scales and ash came from his mouth, though that was only noticeable at first by Koneko.

Rias frowned, ignoring for the moment the girlfriend comment sent Saeko's way as Akeno and Sona both stood up. Tsubaki also warily moved forward to stand with them, while Kiba and Koneko moved to either side of their King as they stared at a now panicking Issei. "Who are you?"

"That's got to be the dragon spirit," Ranma interrupted. Before the others could stop him he moved forward, smashing Issei over the head with enough force to implant the pervert into the floor face first. As everyone else stared at him, Ranma shrugged. "What? I've dealt with possessions before, and the first thing you need to do is beat the person possessed enough to force the spirit out."

"Gah, you pretty boy bastard! What was that for!" Issei shouted, getting up and finding a spine from somewhere as he got in Ranma's face. "I dare you to try to cold cock me like that again! Me and my super ultra-magic powers will kick your pretty boy ass!"

"Ahuh, and how're ya gonna do that, ya perv? Besides, it worked didn't it? Yer voice is back to normal anyway," Ranma replied, stepping back.

"I really doubt it is that simple, Ranma," Saeko said with a sigh, while Akeno giggled and the other devils palmed their faces or rolled their eyes.

"Your girlfriend's right about that. I am Ddraig, the Great Red!" the heavy, draconic voice said one more. "Though that sort of thing is kind of making my point for me."

"Ignore Ranma please, Ddraig," Rias said, scowling at Ranma and pulling him back down to sit on the sofa. That this allowed her to mush his arm into her breasts for a moment or feel those yummy muscles of his was a mere bonus. "How is it you can talk via Issei's voice like this? I've never heard of a Sacred Gear being able to think, though I admit research into the Longinus types is lacking."

"Again that sort of leads into what I wanted to talk about. See, while most Sacred Gears are just that, weapons, there are those of us like me, that white bastard, and a few others who have actual personalities separate from our reality as Sacred Gears. And I'm awake, but Boosted Gear isn't. Issei doesn't have the strength to activate it yet. Which should have meant my personality couldn't be woken up either. But I was."

"Did you wake up during last night's unpleasantness? And is your being awake a threat to Issei's life?" Sona asked critically. Her tone said she wasn't certain if she cared about that.

"No. I was being poked and prodded awake before that. My container's been facing life and death situations for some reason lately, he wasn't exactly clear about it, and the danger seemed to wake me up even though, like I said, his body isn't strong enough to handle Boosted Gear yet. As to being a threat to his life, I don't think so, but I don't…"

Issei shook his head suddenly, holding his throat. "Gah! You are a threat to me, you bastard! Stop taking control of my mouth like that! It makes my jaw feel like it's breaking, and my throat feels like I gargled glass!" He paused, then shouted aloud, "What do you mean I wasn't using it? Of course I was, you overgrown newt!" There was another pause, and once more for no reason anyone else could see he shouted, "You take that back!"

"Um, Issei-kun..." Rias asked, sweatdropping as everyone else simply stared. With the exception of Ranma, Saeko, and Akeno who were all laughing at the floor show. "Are, are you alright?"

Issei fell silent for a moment, still rubbing his throat, before shaking his head again and looking up at Rias. "Erm, yeah. So that happened. Um, so he's kind of in my head now, and can do that kind of thing. Ddraig also says that it might not have just been the fact I was facing death in the face in the pursuit of oppai…"

"You mean you were fearing for your life 'cause you thought I'd kill ya for being a freaking sleaze-ball of a pervert. Word of advice Issei, trying to peep and stuff won't get you a girlfriend," Ranma interrupted, looking somewhat proud of that.

"Oh like you have any idea how we merely mortal men feel! You already have Saeko-chan's amazing oppai to play with, you ass!" Issei paused, jumping aside as Ddraig's voice screamed a warning in his mind.

A katana thunked into the ground where he had been standing a moment before, and Saeko leaned back, snapping her fingers. "Missed. Anyway Hyoudou, I would appreciate it if you did not speak about my body like that. It just makes me want to hurt you."

Gulping and staring at the real katana that had nearly impaled him, Issei nodded, sending thanks to Ddraig for his save before going on. "An, anyway, Ddraig says that while moments like that might be behind a lot of his waking up, he also smelled something weird at times whenever those moments happened."

"Interesting. But it isn't threatening your life?" Rias asked, and nodded thoughtfully staring first at Issei, then Ranma. When Issei nodded at that, she went on much more slowly, now not even looking at Issei, rather concentrating solely on Ranma, who in turn felt her regard and looked at her, his head cocked to one side.

Knowing that this would probably impact her friendship with the martial artist, Rias thought hard about asking Issei to join her peerage. It would be an easy way for Issei to gain a power-up which would hopefully activate his Boosted Gear, and would with training give her a powerful piece to add to her peerage.

But one thing that Ranma had been very clear about from the beginning was that he valued his humanity, and she knew he would react badly to her even offering to make Issei a devil. If Issei asked, she figured that would be fine, but offering it would seem like she wanted to use Issei, which would be the case. It would alienate Ranma, which given her friendship with him and the fact he could possibly be even stronger than a Longinus type given his connection to Jusenkyou, would be bad.

There was also Issei's personality to consider and how it would mesh with her peerage. Akeno might enjoy him being around simply because of the amusement she would take in his reactions. But Rias had decided that she wouldn't really enjoy being around Issei, not after getting used to being around people who saw past her body to Rias the whole person, anyway. Koneko's reaction to perverts was often violent. Kiba… She didn't know how he would react. Probably by just keeping his distance.

Rias stood there in indecision for a full minute, staring first at Ranma, then Issei, until she shook her head abruptly, feeling actually quite pleased for a moment. No, no. I won't sacrifice my friendship with Ranma for a possible power-up to my peerage later. "In that case, I think Sona has an offer for you."

While Akeno and her peerage looked on in surprise and some happiness in the case of Akeno and Koneko (if for very different reasons), Sona blinked then cocked her head, looking at her friend thoughtfully. "Are you certain? Even with this information I would be willing to abide by our initial agreement on this point."

"I'm sure," Rias said. And surprisingly, she was. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "My peerage and I will make do with our training and with our friends."

At this point Ranma had realized what they were discussing, and he smiled at Rias as she sat down next to him, going so far as to throw an arm over her shoulder and give her a brief but heartfelt hug. Even Saeko smiled at Rias, agreeing with her decision. "Thanks, Rias. And if you ever do get around to telling me about whatever the hell is botherin' you, ya should know that I'll be willing to help out however I can."

She smiled at him while Issei slowly stewed, glaring at Ranma before turning his attention to Sona as she stood up. The student body president pushed her glasses up her nose. "While Rias told you about how most of us are devils, Issei, she did not tell you that we can also change humans into devils through the Peerage system. We use chess pieces called Evil Pieces, which are magically designed to change you on a fundamental level into a devil. You would gain a near instant power up, though after that you would only gain strength through your own actions, which we can explain later. Rias and I are High Class devils, and as such have access to the Evil Pieces."

As Issei's eyes widened, Sona went on, examining him from head to toe. Even knowing the power the boy contained, she wasn't looking forward to offering this, knowing his likely reaction and how poorly the rest of her peerage would take it. There was also the fact that she had hoped to go after a college student named Loup Garou soon. Sona had estimated he would take at least a Rook, since she had already used four of her pawns to bring Genshirou Saji into her peerage. Still, the power up Issei could give her peerage was too large to give up. "This is what I would like to offer you."

"But that isn't the only way to gain strength, Issei. Merely the fastest, and the fastest route is often the one which teaches the least," Saeko interjected, with Ranma nodding along beside her. "If you wish and can keep you perversions under control, we would be willing to help you."

Grimacing slightly at the thought of training still another person, Ranma still nodded. "Your humanity ain't so small a thing to give up, kid. You can become strong without becoming a devil. Just give me a few months, and you might be to the point where ya can activate that Boosted Gear thing on your own."

Issei glared at Ranma, staying silent. The idea of becoming more involved with this crazy stuff wasn't appealing, but Ddraig was quick to point out that thinking that was like being a dumbass turtle pulling in his head and hopping the rocs won't try to eat him. But he also did not like being around Ranma, and knew Ranma didn't like him. Still, becoming a devil sounded really…permanent, so he was hesitating for a moment.

Seeing this and deciding to throw a bit more chaos into events, Akeno decided to speak up. "You should know Issei-kun, that as a devil you can work your way up to High Class status until you have your own peerage. Many devils also use their peerages as bed partners…" she said, adding a wink to the last word.

For a moment it didn't register, then Issei bolted to his feet, his eyes wide, though if he was seeing what was in front of him or his inner paradise was anyone's guess. "You mean I could achieve my dream of becoming a Harem King!?"

Sona groaned internally, but she had been prepared for this, and was already concocting her defense, having done much the same with Saji. "That is correct, though it will take time and a lot of hard work even as a devil to achieve that. Being a devil will only get you to the starting point. The rest will be down to willpower."

"Oh, I've got plenty of that!" Issei answered with a grin. "Sure, sign me up!"

Ranma slapped a hand over his eyes, shaking his head from side to side, but he didn't say anything. He had given the kid the option. It wasn't his place to make Issei's choices for him. To give over your humanity for such a stupid reason? Moron. Still, I'm glad he turned down my offer of training him. That just means more time for me to train with Saeko and to train and be trained by Rias and Akeno.

"Hentai," Koneko said shaking her head.

"Very well, Issei." Sona once more looked over at Rias, who smiled and waved her off, making Sona's eyebrows rise in surprise behind her glasses. At first she had been worried that her friend had for some reason become resigned to her fate, which would have been a major departure from her normal personality. Now, however, Sona was wondering if she had missed something about their two new students.

"Tsubaki, show Issei to the student council room. I will be along in a moment. As for your dream, Hyoudou-san, I will not say it is impossible, but you should not look to add either myself or Tsubaki to your fantasies." Sona once more pushed her glasses up her nose, the better to make her stare more threatening. "Tsubaki, as the whole school knows, is in a relationship with Kiba-san."

As those two worthies blushed, Sona went on, her next words causing everyone in the room to cough and stare at her. "As for myself, I am a lesbian. I have no interest in boys, pretty, tough, or what have you."

While everyone else in the room, even the silent Koneko, stared at Sona, Issei looked as if he was torn between drooling at the very idea of Sona being with another woman and sadness. So confused were his thoughts that he could barely form a response, while Ddraig was howling in laughter in his mind for some reason. "Um, er… Okay, I guess…"

Tsubaki wordlessly moved forward, gesturing Issei out the door. For a moment after the door closed everyone sat silently. Then Rias shook her head, still staring at Sona. "A lesbian? When did that happen?"

"It was a lie, of course. Besides, given your normal sleeping habit has you and Akeno sharing a bed five out of seven nights I don't think you should cast aspersions my way, hmmm?" Sona replied dryly.

"Besides, wouldn't you come up with some story to get Issei off your back?" Ranma asked, laughing. "If I had thought it would've worked I'd have tried the same thing with Kuno in an instant."

"Point," Rias muttered, then stood up to escort her friend out of the room and out the building.

The two of them were silent for a few minutes then Sona looked at Rias. "What are you planning, Rias? You just gave up the chance to add a immensely powerful piece to your peerage. Even under normal circumstances that would be a foolish move. Given your personal circumstances, it is almost insane."

"Let's just say I think I've found the ultimate wild card and leave it at that? Deciding how and when to approach him is the question now," Rias replied.

Sona stared at her for a moment then shrugged. "Better you than me. Ranma doesn't seem to be as easily manipulated as Issei, and his refusal to become a devil also bothers me."

"Really, I rather think both those points are positives," Rias replied with a smile, not saying more, leaving Sona still wondering.

OOOOOOO

"Ahh, it's so nice to finally arrive!" Moving to one side of the ship's gangplank, Gabriel stretched her arms above her head, then brought them down into a position in front of her chest before kneeling briefly, praying to God as she stepped onto the ground of this new land. She had never been to Japan before, and it was her custom to pray to Him whenever she arrived in new places, bringing His message with her. Even now when He was no longer able to hear her it bolstered her spirits.

However, in His place Michael did, even if she could feel some irritation in his response. My. I wonder what is bothering him? When Angels prayed they always felt some kind of response from the Almighty, and the Heaven System which Michael had taken over allowed him to do much the same. Although it could not allow her and Michael to speak across distances as it had in the past between God and His archangels.

To one side of her, Xenovia and Irina also knelt, joining her in prayer. She smiled at that, feeling the power of their faith rising next to her. They are good girls, if a little too quick to judge. Still, some time out in the real world should help with that, and there are other archangels who would disagree with me on that point anyway. But is that not a sign of the two most amazing things in existence, free will and individuality? As her Lord's herald it was not Gabriel's place to judge anyone's sins, only to lead those who wish to follow the righteous path.

After a few moments the three girls stood as one, smiling brightly at one another, even Xenovia. Gabriel had found that the taller exorcist was not someone who smiled often, though Irina seemed to make up for it.

Those smiles disappeared, however, as Gabriel spoke. "So, now that I'm on land again, does that mean I can fly once more? Surely my illusions will be able to cover me."

"Actually, I've been reading about up about that," said Xenovia hurriedly, pulling out a pamphlet of some kind and handing it to Gabriel. "There are apparently places where illusions like that don't work in this country, and others where there are people who can see through them."

Blinking, Gabriel took the pamphlet then turned and walked off, reading it, swiftly losing herself in the crowd all around them.

"Far be it from me to ever say anything against one of the Most Holy's archangels, but Gabriel is somewhat less…worldly than I expected," Xenovia muttered to Irina out of the corner of her mouth as the two of them moved forward to try to catch up with Gabriel. Unfortunately, they couldn't push through the crowd as well as Gabriel could part it, her sheer presence forcing most people to give her a slightly wider berth. But this in turn caused the crowd to close around her after she passed even more tightly.

"She's something of an airhead is what you mean," Irina replied, giggling. She wondered for a moment if they should start using their limited magic to try to force their way through the crowd, but neither exorcist was actually that good at magic. "But you only have to spend a few minutes with her to get the impression that she is a good individual."

"She is an archangel! Goodness should be assumed!" Xenovia retorted.

"You know what I mean. She's, Gabriel's innocent of the world. It's not that she doesn't understand, it's just that she doesn't know. And when I say she's good, I mean I don't get the impression that she is judging us or, or looking down at other people. Despite being an archangel, one of the beings closest to God, Gabriel treats us like equals."

"…I suppose that's true. Gabriel could have just bulled on doing everything the way she wanted. She's an archangel; we would have gone along with that. But instead she is willing to listen," Xenovia said thoughtfully.

Ahead of them Gabriel hadn't even noticed that she had left her young compatriots behind while still reading the pamphlet. She recognized one of the places mentioned as Nerima, where Ranma had lived before rescuing Asia. Some of the others she didn't recognize offhand, but she thought they might be similar. One of them was marked as enemy territory for some reason, but she knew for a fact it wasn't. The local Youkai Association was more neutral than anything.

Gabriel had actually been involved in some of the high-level discussions with the Youkai population, which had hopefully convinced them to stay neutral in terms of the Factions for the most part. With the Devils' peerage system, the Angels and even the Fallen could not allow them to add powerful spirit beasts to their ranks. Such a thing could break the balance of power that had kept the 3 Factions at peace for so long. It hadn't stopped several Youkai from joining the Devils, but it had opened the door for the other factions to add some of their own.

One thing that neither Gabriel nor her fellows had taken into account was that while most people would give her a wide berth simply due to the portion of Gabriel's aura even her current human guise could not quite hide, some would not. Predators looking for something to prey upon could very well push past the automatic deference most people gave Gabriel if not to the reality beneath her guise, then at least to see Gabriel's almost unnatural beauty.

So it was with a bit of surprise that Gabriel looked up, having bumped lightly into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going." She bowed her head slightly, and then went on her way, believing that the proprieties had been seen to.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

"Aniki, are you all right!?"

"Ahh, I think I broke my arm!"

Hearing these shouts Gabriel turned, rather confused. Behind her stood three men. Two of them were of an imposing size for humans, while the third was somewhat skinnier, if just as tall. All three wore somewhat well cut suits, though the two muscled men did not seem comfortable in them. It was the one in the middle, the thinner one, who was holding his shoulder as if it was broken.

But Gabriel knew it was not. She knew the sound and feeling of breaking bones, both her own and those of other people. Admittedly, she could have broken the man's shoulder even in such a small touch like that, but she hadn't hit him nearly hard enough to leave a bruise, let alone break a bone, and she was confused as to why he was perjuring his soul by lying like this on such a small issue.

"Oy, oy, oy! You stinking gaijin! How dare you just run into our aniki like that and then walk off as if you can't be bothered! You might've broken his arm!"

"I did not," Gabriel said smoothly, cocking her head to one side and frowning slightly. "I would know if I had."

"What, you think you're some kind of doctor!" said the second thug, while the 'aniki' suddenly realized that this might be going wrong. The foreigner was speaking excellent Japanese and did not look fazed at all by his men's presence.

"No, but I am a warrior. I know the sound of breaking bones, and I know how hard you have to be hit to cause them," Gabriel said, giving voice to her earlier thoughts. She then smiled brightly, looking around them. "Is this some kind of play? Are there those video camera devices around here?"

Turning back to the trio not having found any video cameras, she sighed, shaking her head. "Or are you truly trying to lie? That's so sad. Still, it is a small lie, and I am certain that our Lord will forgive you."

At that Gabriel bowed her head in prayer as if to help that thought along, and the two thugs to either side of the man heretofore known as aniki decided to take matters into their own hands. They weren't among the most intelligent of individuals he had access to, unfortunately. He'd chosen them for this bit of trolling among the tourists because they were imposing, but when that didn't work they didn't really have any brains to fall back on. They both moved forward to grab Gabriel, shouting, "What the hell are you talking about, you stupid gaijin biITTT!"

That was as far as they got before one of them found himself embedded in the road via a very neat pull and slam. The other found his would-be victim's hand pressed tightly against his throat. Aniki could only stare in shock at the sudden reversal, as did the two exorcists who had finally caught up to their charge.

Both of them looked at one another shaking their heads in shock. They'd not been able to follow Gabriel's moves at all. It was as if Gabriel had simply vanished from one point to appear in another to their senses.

Gabriel pouted internally at how this odd event had segued into violence. Some things never leave you, I suppose. She had been a warrior for far too long to ever truly set aside the sword, despite how much she might wish it, and at times it came out like this. "What was this about?" she asked aloud, still confused.

Irina chuckled, grabbing the shoulder of 'aniki' and pushing him to one side as her friend moved forward to pull the unconscious fellow from the ground, while all around them passersby began to notice something had gone on. "I think it was an attempted mugging, Gabriel-sama. Or maybe something worse?"

Gabriel frowned, then looked at the man whose throat she could have easily torn out and was currently holding upright on his tiptoes by his neck so that he could barely breathe. While she had limited her archangel powers during her teleportation to Earth, she was still many times stronger than a woman of similar build, or indeed more than any normal human could be.

Now, however, she let loose with a bit more of her powers, if not the physical sort this time. When they tried, all archangels could to a certain extent divine the intent as well as the innocence of individuals around them. The archangels like Rafael who were devoted to justice could discern far more than Gabriel could in terms of innocence, but she was actually quite good about divining intent.

After a few seconds Gabriel pulled away slightly, burying her power once more entirely behind her human guise, her eyes sad but firm. "These are bad, very bad men. I should probably dispense justice on them myself, but given our discussions over the past few days I understand that humans are squeamish about such things nowadays," Gabriel said in Italian, shaking her head.

"You there, could please take these three men to the nearest constabulary?" Gabriel asked in Japanese, looking over at five large men who had come out of a eatery to one side of her and her current prisoners.

They all looked like sailors, very tough men who didn't look to be the type to obey anyone, but as one they bowed to Gabriel, one of them even doffing his cap to her. "Yes ma'am," one of them said, nodding his head. "We'll see to that right away. People like these yakuza give our nation a bad name."

"Then may God's blessings go with you," Gabriel intoned happily, bowing her head in prayer for a moment.

To their own shock, all of the men she had addressed did the same, before moving to grab the three yakuza and drag them to the police. Despite 'aniki' protesting loudly and even beginning to offer them money under his breath, the sailors remained unmoved.

As they left Irina heard one of them mutter, "Why did we all stop and pray like that? We're not Christians!"

"Maybe not, but I might be thinking of switching. There was something, something about that woman…"

The exorcist smiled to herself. Even if she wasn't on a mission to deliver it, the Archangel of the Message could not help but spread His word. If that was not a sign from the Most Holy she would need her eyes examined.

Next to her, however, Irina heard Xenovia grown. "What's wrong, Xenovia?"

"She's gone again."

Irina turned quickly, then groaned in unison with her friend and raced down the streets.

They found Gabriel quickly enough this time. She had slowed down to take in the sights now, the pamphlet nowhere to be seen as she flitted from one side of the street to the other, staring into the shops and exchanging greetings with everyone who smiled at her. Gabriel now seemed to gather a bit of a following as she went, simply because of her outgoing nature and smile, if Irina was any judge.

Chuckling while watching Gabriel smile like a child while looking into a large toy store, Irina asked, "I know you're having fun, Lady, but shouldn't we be moving on?"

"Oh yes, I suppose," Gabriel said with a smile, one that was so wide and happy that Irina and Xenovia both could only respond in kind. "It's just, I always like to explore a bit when I'm in a new place, and technology has changed drastically since I was last out and about on Earth."

"Well, when we are finished our job we can explore then, can't we?" said Irina, smiling brightly and tapping her rather large, for a human, anyway, chest with one hand. "I could even show you around. I'm a native, after all."

"Oh, that would be lovely!" Gabriel said, clasping Irina's hand to hers for a moment and squeezing lightly. Irina flushed at this touch of the divine, but as usual Gabriel didn't seem to notice the adoration the two exorcists had for her.

"Do you wish to take care of your own personal mission before ours Lady Gabriel?" asked Xenovia, more formally. As a lowly exorcist it would not be her place to question an archangel on a matter of "long overdue justice," as Gabriel had put it before they left the Vatican.

Gabriel paused in thought, then shrugged. "I think taking care of my own business would be simpler, though of course we can see if we can pick up the trail of Excalibur. We could also contact some of the locals that way. This act of thievery is likely to break the peace, and that serves no one."

Both of the exorcists balked at that, but Gabriel simply smiled. "I am the Herald of God. That oftentimes meant diplomacy as well. Do not worry, I will handle it if you feel uncomfortable."

"We will still go with you, milady," Xenovia said formally. "No matter how onerous the task that has been laid on us by our Holy Church, we will fulfill it. Do you know in which direction your personal quest will take us?"

Gabriel nodded. "That way. I can also triangulate easily, once I get a few miles in a different direction," she said, allowing herself to feel a tiny bit of pride at having thought of that solution.

"So you don't have an actual name of the location?" Irina asked, looking a little worried. "Or how to get there?"

"Not at all," Gabriel said cheerfully. "And as for getting there, I think I can avoid the no-go zones from the pamphlet, and flying there would be much faster."

"Milady, this might not have occurred to you, but myself and Irina cannot fly!" Xenovia said rather more tartly than she would have condoned peaking to a archangel before this trip began.

"We will have to move in the human way. And humans don't use just straight lines and triangulation to go from one place to another. We use maps and public transportation in this country at least. Our train system is one of the best in the world." Irina expanded quickly on her friends point.

Gabriel sighed, but nodded. "Very well. I will triangulate, and you can find a map and will compare notes. From there, we'll have to rely on our local guide," she said smiling at Irina, who beamed brightly, giving the archangel a thumbs up.

OOOOOOO

As was usual on a Monday, the Pervert Trio met up on the way to school. Matsuda and Mahotama however could not help but notice their friend smiling to himself, even giggling under his breath occasionally. He was even looking out into the distance rather than at the porn magazine they were currently talking about. This was nothing new, of course, but normally they would know the reason behind it. This time they did not.

It was Matsuda who finally broke, reaching out and grabbing Issei's shoulder and shaking him lightly. "All right, what the heck is up with you?! You aren't even looking at the porn now, just staring out into space."

"It's true. These kind of porn mags are the ones you usually love," Mahotama said, frowning at Issei.

"Heheheh… Boys, I'm not the same Issei you saw on Saturday…" Issei began as the school came in sight. "I have taken the first step forward in becoming a Harem King! No longer will I just be one of the three, but on my own, moving into a world of glorious oppai!"

Oy, gaki. Just remember that this new universe is also a dangerous one. You're going to have to put in the time and effort to live up to the potential my Boosted Gear can give you.

I know that, Ddraig, I just want to concentrate on the more important things right now. Like imagining getting with some of the girls on the student council and rubbing my success into my friends' faces!

If a spirit could sweatdrop, Ddraig would have been doing so at that point, but Issei ignored him, continuing to talk to his friends and gently removing Matsuda's hand from his shoulder. "Matsuda, Mahotama, friends of my youth before I became a man, you are looking at the newest member of the Student Council!"

Both his friends gaped at him, then laughed. "You're joking. The Student Council only takes the best and brightest, the most popular. Why the hell would they just let a poor fool like you join?" Mahotama asked, laughing wildly.

"Hmm, I think Issei might be sick, Mahotama. Let's get him to the nurse first thing. Maybe she has something to cure his delusions," Matsuda said with a laugh.

"You'll see. Heheheh, trust me, you'll see…" Issei said before segueing into a laugh as they reached the gate into the school.

At that point he was interrupted by the somewhat familiar voice of Sona Sitri, or rather Sona Shitori as the rest of the school knew her. "There you are, Hyoudou-san. You are on time, which is appropriate, but you should know that as a student council member you will have to arrive an hour sooner to help with our duties around school."

The trio of boys turned, Matsuda and Mahotama's jaws dropping in shock as Sona strode over to them followed by two of the other council members, Tsubaki and Reya, the vice-president and disciplinary committee leader respectively.

All around them the rest of the school looked on in shock as the student council president willingly talked to one of the Pervert Trio. While she did not have quite the fan base among the male population as Rias or Akeno did, Sona was held in near universal awe and respect by her peers. To see her lowering herself to speak to one of the three most hated students in the school was astonishing.

One of the girls nearby asked the question on everyone's mind. "Shitori-san… Um, wh, what is going on? I mean, why would you say Issei was on the student council?"

Sona sighed, taking her glasses off and wiping them, while inside she was rather amused by everyone's reactions. To be sure, if she hadn't known what he contained inside Sona wouldn't have given Issei the time of day. But he did contain the Longinus Boosted Gear, as had been proven by how many of her Evil Pieces it had taken to resurrect him: her second rook and all of her remaining pawns after the ones she had used on Saji.

But that, of course, was something she wasn't about to share with the crowd around her. Instead, she and Tsubaki had come up with a plan to hopefully mitigate the rumors Issei's joining her peerage would start. "It is actually part of a college project Tsubaki-san and myself have been asked to take on, a sociological and physiological experiment rolled into one. As you all know, Hyoudou-san is one of the worst students here. Indeed he is barely at the cut-off level, even among the boys to remain in school."

She glared at Matsuda who flinched a little at that, though Mahotama smiled smugly. While his physical abilities were lacking, Mahotama was actually quite smart, and his grades were decent.

"The idea is to see if we can bring his grades up through positive and negative reinforcement, bringing his grades up to an acceptable level and possibly even recondition his brain to be more socially acceptable." She glared at Issei, then at the other two, one after another. "Of course that means we will have to find a way to curb his…perversions. It will be difficult, but I already have some plans in place for that."

All three of the perverts shuddered, and Issei stared at Sona aghast, while inside him Ddraig began to laugh and showed no hint of stopping anytime soon. While the rest of the crowd of students seemed happy at the idea Sona would be taking command of at least one of the peeping pervs, or at least believed her words on why Issei had joined the council, Issei began to shout. "But, no! You will not take my love of oppai from me! I refuse! I take it all back! I don't wanna join!"

With that he raced off, but Sona had anticipated this and clicked her fingers. "Saji, Tsubasa!"

"Hai, Shitori-sama!" Two third years, a boy and a girl, replied from the crowd. They immediately set off after Issei, quickly capturing him and dragging him into the building kicking and screaming.

Rather against his will, Ranma had arrived at school a few moments before Issei and the trio had arrived. He stood for a moment, Asia still in his arms from having been carried over the roofs as Saeko leaned against his side, watching the goings on over at the gates. They were quickly joined by Rias and her peerage, and the redhead cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at Ranma. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering if maybe this was what Nabiki felt back in Nerima. Y'know, on the outside looking in at all the chaos. Damn, no wonder she was always so snarky. This is fun!"

"Don't get used to it," Saeko replied, shaking her head. "With your luck that is just asking for trouble."

"I know…" Ranma said with a sigh, finally setting a now blushing Asia down so they could head into the school building.

Saeko's prediction came true that afternoon during lunch time. Ranma and Saeko had just left the others behind to head to class, leaving Rias and Asia talking excitedly about the younger girl's new club as Akeno and Koneko cleaned up their lunches. The two martial artists were actually setting up something that could be called a date for later that Friday, as there was a new historical action movie Saeko wanted to see out in theaters. They had just passed Issei, who was slumped against a wall, his eyes wide and unseeing, when their talk was interrupted.

A cup of cold water dropped out of the window above them, and at the same time a bang was heard. A second later a voice shouted, "Gah, damn it! Who spilled oil here!? Jeeze, I hope that doesn't hit anyone."

Like fate given form, the cup of water fell unerringly down onto Ranma's head, changing him into her. Ranma's hair changed color from black to red, while Ranma's Chinese shirt expanded outward as his hips did the same as he shrunk at least a foot or more in height. Saeko went from looking up very slightly at Ranma in the eye to staring down at her, and she shook her head. "That was… Wow, Ranma. Sometimes your water attraction thing can be…"

"Tragic?" Ranma groused, knocking the cup off her head and swiping one hand through her hair.

"I was going to say hilarious, but I suppose from your perspective tragic is closer," Saeko said teasingly, ruffling the redhead's damp hair affectionately.

At that point they both became aware of Issei still being there. He gasped, pointing at the redhead that was standing where Ranma had been a moment before. "Holy shit! Is that why you don't seem to care about oppai or girls in general? You were a girl all along!?"

"Hey, keep your voice down, pervo!" Ranma growled, taking a menacing step forward, cursing whoever had lost control of that cup of water to hell and back.

This was one of his top five worst ways his curse could have come out, but at least Rias was nearby. He could already sense her magic going to work on most of the people around them, erasing the last few minutes from all of their minds save those who already knew about magic and such.

"I'm a guy, whatever my body looks like, this is just a curse I picked up in China a few years back. It's a pure physical change it don't effect my mind, outside of some of my taste buds." Ranma went on, his voice still more of a growl than anything. "And no I am not about to let you look at me! Hell, I try not to look at myself all that often."

Issei blushed, staring at Ranma's chest even so, but before Ranma could do anything her words penetrated and Issei pointed angrily at Ranma, the horrified look on the pervert's face actually taking Ranma aback for a moment and halting Ranma's instinctual reaction to being ogled. "That's crazy! You, you have this gorgeous curse and don't even take advantage of it! You could actually feel what a girl felt, understand what felt good and what didn't! Why wouldn't you take advantage of that!? That's like not accepting half of your body or something!"

Blinking, Ranma paused, her fist upraised, but then Issei lost all his credibility as he reached forward and cupped Ranma's breasts, shouting in her face, "Look, does this feel good to you!?"

The next thing Issei knew, his head had been smashed into the wall of the school so hard that even his Rook given durability gave out. He would later swear he actually felt his skull starting to give out before he lost consciousness.

Ranma turned away in a huff, leaping up and away, no longer in any mood to deal with school, only returning at lunch time.

OOOOOOO

Despite what had occurred Monday and over the weekend, Ranma, Rias, and Akeno continued their quid pro quo training sessions, with Koneko wrangling her way into some training herself in return for her acclimatization exercises during lunch that day. Ranma would have said no to that, but found it impossible to do so when Koneko looked at him with those yellow, soulful eyes of hers. Though whether that was because she so resembled a cat to his senses or her mastery of the puppy eyes attack™ was anyone's guess.

Despite caving to her, however, Ranma didn't really have much to teach Koneko personally. Her style was a little too based upon standing on the defense, remaining in one place, and dishing out damage in short bursts rather than constantly moving around as Ranma did. He could pass on to her some observations on Ryoga's style, which seem to help her quite a bit, but that and telling her about Ryoga's toughness training was really all the help he could give her.

In return Koneko made certain that Ranma didn't leave the gym until the two of them had spent at least forty minutes together, with Koneko in her regular body. Surprisingly, even after only a few days the desensitization training did seem to be working a little. Ranma seemed much more at home with her nearby, even if he still flinched when she began to change or touched him initially. Even that would fade a little as the session continued, however, which was extraordinary progress.

However Koneko knew that it was at least in part because she was not an actual cat. Ranma could tell himself and did under his breath that she was a cat person not an actual cat, which helped even more than getting used to her actual presence.

While Ranma taught Rias and Akeno, Saeko would spar with Kiba. Kiba was frankly astonished at the swordswoman's abilities. If he had been a human she would've beaten him handily. As it was, it took all of his devil-given speed as a Knight to keep up with her. Her ability to read his moves offset much of his speed advantage. His own style was good enough to nearly match hers, but not quite. Indeed, the two of them began to have a bit of a rivalry over the next two days.

Asia did not join them, having delved into her after school club activities happily. To Rias's delight, the girl had followed up on her suggestion and joined a club called the Anime Convention Center, which was built around writing fan fiction and watching anime.

On Wednesday Ranma changed things up and had all four of the others attacking him and Saeko, the two of them acting as a team. They had all also put on white t-shirts over their regular gym outfits. These were marked by circles here and there over weak points, which Ranma had to strike to take them out.

"How did you make these, anyway?" Saeko asked.

"I didn't," Ranma said shrugging. "Kasumi bought the shirts, and then I asked Akeno to magic them up a little."

Akeno chuckled, shaking her head. "I had thought you would use it in training just Rias and me, not all of us at once."

"You need to start learning group tactics. That doesn't just mean actual tactics," he said seriously, rolling his eyes as Rias giggled. "That I know you have a good enough handle on. But that's different than knowing how your friends will react, how to help them, or how to put yourself in a position where they can help you."

"That makes sense," Kiba nodded. "In this way we also learn to defend one another's weak points."

Ranma nodded but Koneko held up a hand. She was wearing gloves that Saeko had bought her which made her look like the smallest Ryu or Ken wannabe that ever existed, but Koneko loved them. "What about me?" she asked softly. "With my Rook given strength and durability ,how does this help me more than more sparring or something else?

"Your Rook durability shouldn't be the only basis of your fighting style, Koneko-chan," Saeko said, shaking her head. "It might mean that you can take a hit, but you should never take one that you can avoid, Koneko. After all, what happens if you meet someone who can break through your Rook-like durability?"

"And even setting that aside, how much durability does your Rook power give your throat or the inside of your mouth?" Ranma asked intently, gesturing to the sphere set right below Koneko's throat on her t-shirt.

"The answer in terms of the inside of her mouth is not much," Rias said promptly. Her eyes and throat however are just as durable as the rest of her. But I would like Koneko to avoid hits regardless, understood?" she finished, looking at Koneko.

The silver-haired girl nodded, and the fight began.

By the end of the fight Saeko had been taken out, but Ranma was still standing, a little bruised here and there, but still standing while everyone else was on the ground, numerous spots marking their danger zones now. Kiba had the least, though the ones he did have were telling, being on his arms and legs. Now that the fight was over he and Saeko were talking seriously about how she had gone for his appendages, and how she could have even gone for his hands or feet and crippled him in that manner.

"I would never have believed it," Akeno muttered. Turning away and bending over she accidentally, or maybe not, gave the rest of the gym a wonderful view of her heart-shaped rear. While Ranma and Kiba both looked away with various shades of red crawling over their faces, Akeno pulled out two ice cold water bottles from her pack, chilled magically of course.

She gave one of them to Koneko and tossed the other to Kiba before pulling out two more, tossing them to Saeko and Ranma. Yet again she reached into her bag, this time before pulling out a small container of chilled tea for herself and Rias. She turned around, staring at Ranma and Saeko seriously while Rias slumped against her, opening the tea.

"Wouldn't've believed what?" Ranma said, squatting down in front of the two girls.

"I wouldn't have believed that a human could be as fast or as durable as you are. Skilled, yes. I knew that humans had developed several different styles of fighting which were well-regarded among devils, but not to this extent. Even Saeko, for all her skill, is within the limits even now that I would have assumed humanity could achieve before meeting you. You, not so much," Akeno finished dryly.

"Yeah, well, I had to sacrifice a lot to get this good. I won't say I regret it either but, it's…" Ranma paused, thinking of how to put it.

"Perseverance is the most important thing," he began again after a moment, his voice now much more serious, and everyone else in the gym turned, listening to him intently. "Perseverance and desire. Without perseverance, desire is nothing. Desire can leave you the moment you hit a wall. Talent is nothing. There are a lot of people out there with talent who have not amounted to anything because they lacked the ability to push themselves to truly achieve their potential."

"You have to have a goal, and in my case it is to be the best!" He laughed, sharing a glance with Saeko and then Kiba, who also laughed, holding up his bokken in salute. "Not to be the best martial artist, but to be the best I can be. To push my limits, to always be better this week than I was last week. My old man, there are a lot of things I'll curse him about to his dying day. But one thing I have to thank Genma for is that he instilled in me the will to keep going regardless of the pain, regardless of any other goal."

Ranma shrugged. "I'll probably never really fit in with most of normal society, you know. I don't care about money. I don't care about rules or society, or college, or anything else. But at the same time, I couldn't care less about that, because I am still pushing myself, getting better in the martial arts, and that is the most important thing to me."

Rias nodded, respecting Ranma's drive. Yet even so, she struck was by the thought: I was like that once. I had a goal and I had vowed to do anything to achieve it. I was told when I was a very young girl that I'd have to marry Riser, and I began to train myself both physically and with my Power of Destruction, thinking about how to get the most out of it. So why haven't I done so since?

Putting that thought aside for later perusal, Rias stood up, groaning a little as her body told her it was most unhappy with her at the moment. She was a High Class demon. She'd been born with more strength, durability, and speed than any human could be. And yet Ranma could turn her into putty, and she knew it. After every training exercise with them she learned both something new and that she had a long way to go.

Guess that is how far simple talent will take you. Perseverance. That's what Ranma said, and that's what I need to have, Rias thought, flames literally coming to her eyes for a moment before she moved over to Ranma, then past him, smacking him on the shoulder once before pulling Saeko to her feet. "So, are you two going to keep exercising, or can we move on to training Ranma now?"

Saeko shrugged her shoulders, looking a little pained for a moment, one hand falling to her side. "I think not. I pulled something in that last clash. I'll go take a shower and then see if I can find Asia to look at it for me."

Rias nodded, huffing a little at the thought of what Asia and her new club mates were getting up to before moving over to Ranma. Before she left, however, Saeko turned. "By the way, has anything more come up with that fallen angel, Raynare?"

"No. My brother is apparently buried under paperwork, trying to cover for Leviathan no longer being in the underworld, but he says that he received confirmation that Raynare and Mittelt were both considered rogues. So technically we can do whatever we want with her."

"Reading between the lines, there seems to be some kind of…I don't want to call it a power struggle going on, but certainly factionalism within the Fallen Angel community. So we're simply keeping her on ice." Rias waved her hands to either side, indicating that it was out of her hands. "Sona and I both agreed on that point. Besides which, it's not as if the girl is dangerous enough on her own to be a threat."

"Don't count her out," Ranma cautioned. "Cornered people can be damn dangerous because they think they have nothing to lose. And I'd also keep Issei away at the very least, given how fallen angels are built for seduction and all."

"What about you, Ranma. Sshould we be worried about having you near her too?" Rias asked teasingly.

"Nah, Raynare ain't my type," Ranma said with a laugh.

"Oh?" Akeno said, getting her words out for before Rias could pounce on that opening. "And what exactly would your type be then?"

"I have no idea," Ranma replied honestly, before looking to the side in Saeko's direction, seeing her smile happily back at him. "I am leaning towards athletic types, I guess. Y'know, the whole having something in common thing." Rias frowned at that, but smiled as Ranma went on. "But it ain't like athletics is all I think about. People I have interests in common with are always, you know, better conversationalists. Other than that, I don't know."

"But figuring that kind of thing out is half the fun," Saeko said smoothly, sending a wink Ranma's way, causing him to flush a little. With that she turned away, heading towards this showers, adding an extra sway to her hips.

Behind her Ranma shuddered a little, pulling his eyes away from that view with difficulty before moving over and sitting down in a lotus position, staring at Rias. "So, how do I do this?"

Unfortunately, without Rias starting the process, Ranma had no luck accessing his connection to Jusenkyou just yet. He could feel it, but not actually interact with it yet on his own. The training sessions broke up soon afterward.

That day Saeko and Ranma decided for some reason to take their time going home. Saeko had taken Asia home and returned before Ranma had finished his meditation training, and for some reason both of them found themselves with a desire for some quiet time, which was odd for both of them, but they went with it. They just walked side by side down the road, but the silence was anything but uncomfortable. Occasionally one or the other would point out something in a store, or point out a restaurant, or simply smile, and the other would respond, but for some reason, they found the silence was welcome at the moment.

It didn't last, of course. There was no way it could given Ranma's luck. But what did interrupt them this time was something of a surprise. "Take this, pretty boy!"

Hearing that shout from two sides, Ranma leaped up, grabbing a street light and flipping up onto it above his previous position. There was the sound of splashing water, and then a feminine gasp as he stopped moving to look down. Below him the other two perverts, Matsuda and Mahotama, had hurled buckets of water out at where Ranma had been a second ago from their hiding places in an alleyway he and Saeko had just walked past. But Mahotama's shout had warned him enough to let him dodge the water, though Saeko had not reacted fast enough and had gotten drenched instead.

Leaping down, Ranma grabbed both boys, slamming their faces together as he hefted them both into the air like they weighed nothing at all. "What the hell were you two doing? And how did Issei talk you into it?"

They both tried to turn their heads to look at him, but he just ground their faces together, his lips curling back to show his teeth in a smile that was not at all friendly. "Yes, I know he probably talked you into it. He's the only one I can think of who'd have tried to get you to splash me with water. Now talk, or else I'll force yer virgin lips to go gay fer your first kisses, then tie ya up face to crotch and leave ya in the school's entrance hall."

Horrified by this threat, both boys began to babble frantically, and Ranma moved them apart so he could hear them better, still holding them in the air by gripping their necks. It turned out that, as Ranma had thought, Issei had told them that Ranma had a 'weakness' to cold water, and that by splashing him in front of a girl they might convince the girl to not be interested in Ranma further. Why they believed such tripe was beyond Ranma, but he knew what was really behind this.

"All right, you two. I'll let ya off with a warning this time. But try that shit again, and I'll go through with my threat, understood?" Getting two frantic nods, Ranma let them drop to the ground before kicking them hard, sending them both up and over the nearby buildings. "Now get out of here!"

"Are you sure that was wise, Ranma? I realize all three of the perverts have proven durable, but not to that extent," Saeko said, pulling at her wet hair with a frown.

"Meh, ya should never doubt the powers of a pervert to survive anything ya do to 'em, Saeko-chan. Besides, I targeted my kicks to let'em land on…the rooftoooo…." Ranma trailed off with a furious blush as he actually looked at Saeko for the first time since the two perverts tried to splash him.

Saeko had been wearing a thin, cream colored shirt of good quality, but it seemed to have proven rather sheer when wet, now hugging her frame in an almost lewd manner. This was added to by the fact that she had worn a silk, black bra underneath it, which was now visible through her shirt, giving Ranma, and a few other passersby, a rather amazing view.

Blinking at Ranma's sudden blush, Saeko looked down at herself and gasped, crossing her arms over her chest. "I am a girl you know Ran-chan!"

"Oh, I know…" Ranma breathed, something in his eyes causing Saeko to flush herself not in embarrassment but in desire before he shook himself, and pulled an extra shirt out of his ki space, tossing it to her and turning away. "Sorry, um, here, wear that for now. I suppose we should cut our walk short and head home now, yeah?"

He didn't see the small smile that crossed Saeko's face for a second before she stepped into the alleyway, hiding behind the same dumpster the two perverts had hid behind to pull off her shirt and change into the shirt Ranma had given her. When she was done, Saeko pulled her hair out of the shirt and spent a brief second to pull her hair back and tie it into a ponytail before reaching forward, putting both her arms around one of Ranma's. "Not at all. I'm wet, for certain, but it's a nice day out, and your shirt is rather comfortable. And I don't want this recent bit of idiocy to ruin our walk."

Ranma looked at her and slowly smiled, putting his hand around her waist before the two of them continued on their way. Yet even as they did, Ranma spent a brief moment to think about Issei. All right, you little perv. You want a war, you've got one!

OOOOOOO

Later that night, Rias was in bed thinking hard. She couldn't get to sleep no matter how much she tossed and turned, but it wasn't because she was missing a body pillow. If it had been, Rias would have already made her way to Akeno's room. Akeno was more than used to Rias's issues with sleeping, but both girls liked to sleep apart sometimes too, especially right after or during that time of the month. Since Akeno's had just passed, Rias had gone to bed alone. But again, that wasn't the problem. It was Rias's mind which refused to shut down, not her body.

Ranma's words from that afternoon were just not leaving her head. I have talent in the Power of Destruction, so much so that people have praised me for it. But what have I done with that? Have I even trained myself in it since I was…what, nine, eight? I remember doing so I was younger, but then I stopped. Something happened between the time I was told about my upcoming marriage to Riser, and I just stopped bettering myself...

Frowning in thought, Rias eventually clambered out of bed and began to pace her room, frowning as she tried to bring to mind anything that happened around that time. But she couldn't. It was too long ago, and while devils had a lot of physical abilities beyond humans going for them, when it came to long-term memories their minds became just as much of a jumble as any normal human's, especially their childhood memories. But even so, there was something weird about it.

She frowned, her arms now crossed over her chest in a way that would have sent any normal boy into a coma due to blood loss, considering she was naked. But there was no one there to see as Rias tapped one finger against her upper arm, staring out into the night.

Up until Ranma arrived, I was pinning all of my hopes for getting out of my marriage to Riser on my peerage and beating him in a rating game. But logically that makes no sense! Why would anyone put all of their eggs in one basket? Admittedly, I don't have much else going for me when it comes to Riser, but there are other things I could've tried! So why didn't I?

"All right," Rias said aloud in the darkness of her room, looking over fondly at her graphic novel and video collection for a moment before turning back to the matter at hand. "All right, so I probably would not have ever worked up the courage to run away or something like that. Especially not since I know that there are other factions and families out there that would just love to kidnap me and use me against my family. And despite their forcing me into this, I still care for my parents.

"And I know Riser would never agree to a chess match like Sona used to get rid of her prospective fiance. He's way too arrogant, but he isn't that stupid. But I could've tried to challenge him in a one-on-one match. There are ways around the Phenex Clan's vaunted regeneration, after all. And the Power of Destruction can hurt them. So why haven't I been training my Power of Destruction? Even if I was able to force things into a rating game, it isn't as if my peerage would be doing all the fighting! I like to think that I'm not that sort of King."

There was no logical or even emotional reason for Rias to not have trained her Power of Destruction, there was no reason for Rias as desperate as she was and Rias knew she was becoming even more so as the days went on, to look for other means of convincing Riser to end the engagement. But she hadn't. She hadn't been training.

Searching her memories as best she could, Rias could remember starting, but not stopping. No talk with her mother about it being unladylike and no talk with her father vetoing the very idea of her and Riser having a fight like that. Nothing from her brother accidentally showing off and making her think that her own abilities at the Power of Destruction were so small she shouldn't even bother. All reasons that she could think of, but which hadn't happened.

And that left Rias with one unpalatable conclusion. Something or someone has messed with my mind! With that thought Rias marched out of her room and across the hall to Akeno's.

She opened the door quickly, finding Akeno asleep, of course, dressed in a negligee that more accented her beautiful body than hid it. Moving to her bed, Rias placed a gentle but insistent hand on Akeno's shoulder, shaking her awake, unmindful of her own nakedness.

Akeno woke up sleepily, then moved the covers aside slightly. "If you want to sleep with me just get in, Ri-chan," Akeno mumbled using a nickname she had given Rias when they were younger, one she rarely if ever used these days. "Honestly, you and your need for a body pillow…"

"It's not that, Akeno," Rias said sharply. "Wake up."

At the sound of Rias's sharp tone Akeno slowly roused herself. She was not a natural morning person, hence why Rias was always the one up and making them breakfast. Akeno handled the rest of the cooking, but simply could not rouse herself from sleep fast enough to prepare for breakfast for them or Kiba and Koneko. Eventually, Akeno shook her head, pushing her long black hair out of her face to look closely at her friend. "What is it?"

"Check me for compulsion magic or any foreign magic!" Rias blurted. "I want to know if I've been put under anything like a memory modification, an aversion spell, or anything of that nature."

Akeno blinked, sitting up abruptly. "What, why?! Given your natural magical resistance, nothing like that could ever have been emplaced without your knowledge, Rias!"

"Not now, but if I was younger?" Rias countered.

"Even then your resistance would still be up to the task of stopping any such long term spell from taking root. And besides that, when did you ever come in contact with someone who would put such spells on you?"

"Riser or his family are my suspects at this point. He had time, motivation, and as much as I hate to admit it, the magical power. Now if you're done stalling, please check me as I asked!" Rias said huffily.

"No, I don't think so," Akeno groused, falling back onto the bed and turning away. "This is a waste of time. Either come in and cuddle or go back to your own bed, Rias. I need my sleep."

"Akeno…" Rias said, now much more gently even as she reached out to grab her friend's shoulder, pulling her around again. She sat down on the bed now, looking closely at her friend. "You just said something I asked of you is a waste of time, a King's request of her Queen. Set aside what I asked you to do and look at just that statement."

Akeno bristled and was about to pull her friend's hand off her shoulder when she paused and actually did as Rias instructed, paling noticeably. "That, that's…" she stammered

Rias nodded. "I think I need to check you for compulsions too," Rias said briskly. "Come on."

Their house had a small, magically protected room for experiments and to allow for easier transportation to and from the ORC room, but neither girl ever used it much. Akeno was more of a pure sorceress type than Rias, but even she didn't make use of this room for long rituals or in-depth magic very often. Her talents lay more in direct combat magic than long term spells or wards.

"I still think this is a waste of time, Rias," Akeno pouted as she followed her friend. But then she shuddered, shaking her head. Now knowing that there might be something wrong with her, Akeno could fight the effect somewhat, reinforcing her King's earlier concerns. "Gah, that is most nasty. We need to get this over with quickly."

Realizing that her friend was in quite a bit of distress, Rias did so. She spent a few seconds chanting a brief spell, then waved her hand in front of her friend's face before moving her hands down her body, past her breasts, and on down to Akeno's panty-clad privates. Her concern was so high that even the sight of her friend's breasts didn't rouse the normal jealousy Rias felt at her friend's proportions.

A second later Akeno's head began to emit an aura of dark purple and red. There was another spell on her private area, but it was a light green, and Rias recognized it as the remains of a waxing spell, so ignored it beyond making a note to renew her own soon. Instead she concentrated on the aura around Akeno's head, taking it apart until she could see that there were two layers of purple overlapping one another along with a single red one.

"Well?" Akeno asked anxiously, unable to see the same things Rias could at the moment. "Is there anything there or is this a waste of time like I said?" Even now Akeno was trying to turn away, to ignore what was going on.

"There are two strong aversion charms on you," Rias said softly, feeling somewhat stunned even if she had begun to expect this earlier. "I, of course, can't tell what the purpose is, but given the roadblock we've run into here I'm going to assume that's one of them at least. There's also a small memory charm or block on your mind." Rias wasn't the best when it came to examination spells, though she was quite good at healing spells, but they were simpler for devils in a way. After all, you didn't have to understand the damage you were healing, all you needed was enough magic to not care. Not that any devil's healing skills could stack up to the instantaneous regeneration of Asia's Twilight Healing.

While Akeno gave a full body shudder, Rias went on calmly and thoughtfully, bringing both of her hands up and placing them to either side of Akeno's head. "Whoever put these spells in place was subtle and powerful, I think." Small white sparks began to fly from her fingertips, gently caressing Akeno's head here and there. "I'm going to try and remove all three of them, okay?"

Akeno nodded convulsively, looking more scared than Rias had seen her since the first time they had met when Akeno was on the run from her family. Needing no further urging, Rias got to to work, cutting away the spells from Akeno's mind slowly, one at a time. Getting rid of such long standing spells was tough because they had embedded themselves into her mind, growing with it over time. Yet even so, eventually it was gone, and the auras around Akeno's head dissipated.

"Done," Rias said, moving back slightly while wiping some sweat from her forehead. "That was hard! I didn't think Riser was that powerful, certainly not back then!"

"I don't think it was Riser…" Akeno replied, her voice tense as she shook her head. "I remember now, or at least I can remember some things I couldn't before. You had just started practicing with your Power of Destruction and were taking ideas of how to manipulate it from some anime or other. Then the next night I heard lots of shouting. I went to see what was going on, and…and Lord Gremory stopped me in the hall. The next day you were no longer doing that, and then a few days later Koneko arrived. I, I… By Maou, that was horrible!"

"My turn," Rias said grimly.

Akeno went to work without another word, her spells taking form swiftly. Once more a dark purple aura showed up, though there was also a lot more red there. "There is definitely a compulsion charm on you as well, Rias-sama, but you said mine was two compulsions and a smaller memory charm?"

"Yes, why?" Rias did not like not being able to see what was going on, but casting a spell to look at the magical residue on her would interfere badly with the results.

"I would say that there are two spells on you, with maybe the memory charm being a little bit more powerful than the rest?" Akeno mused, one hand rising to cup her chin as she stared at her friend's aura.

"Can you get any kind of magical signature off it?" Rias asked grimly. "That would be very…enlightening…especially considering what you just said about your own memories."

Akeno nodded grimly and went to work as Rias had earlier, though she also set a magical pen to work on a nearby pad of paper. Or rather, it looked like a simple pad of paper. It was in actuality a magical note taking device that Lord Beelzebub had devised several decades ago, called a magigraphometer. It was used by scientifically minded practitioners of magic to help her them make notes when they were creating spells or items, what did and what didn't work, and acted more like someone had taken a photo of the spell done in its place, or whatever else the user wanted it to do, recording everything the device could detect about the magic in play.

"According to this there are at least two different signatures involved in this spell, though I can't recognize either. But one of them, one of them, I think, could be your father, Rias," Akeno said softly, not even using her habitual "-sama" given how rattled she was.

"I knew it the moment you mentioned seeing him after you heard shouting," Rias said grimly. "This kind of spell… Well, either one or both of my parents would have to be involved. I wish it were otherwise, but if wishes were fishes there'd be no room for water in the sea. That's the phrase, right?"

Akeno giggled a little wetly, tears coming to her eyes, and she abruptly pulled Rias into a hug which the redhead returned, the two girls clinging to one another for a moment. For devils even more than for humans the idea of this kind of mental assault being performed on them was horrifying. To have such a thing happen with the connivance of your own family? That was even worse.

Eventually Akeno stood back and quickly got to work removing the spells on her friend. When she was done her hands fell to her breasts, wobbling as she dragged in a deep breath, her legs nearly giving out under her from exhaustion. "It's done," she said, shaking her head. "My, but that was, that was very difficult."

Rias nodded agreement, swiftly pulling her friend into another hug, then helped Akeno up the stairs into the kitchen. There she poured two hot cups of tea for them both, her hands noticeably shaking as she handled the tea.

"I don't suppose you have anything stronger?" Akeno asked, only somewhat facetiously as a drink sounded really good right about now.

"That wouldn't do either of us any good," Rias said rather primly, gripping her hands into fists to stop them from trembling both from magical exhaustion and from her emotional response to the situation. "A, after all, we're going to have to leave here soon."

Akeno looked up at her then nodded slowly, her own trembling slowly disappearing as she came to grips with the problem. "You're afraid that our breaking the spell might've been noticed?"

Sometimes wizards, devils, and other sorts could attach a little fillip to any given spell they cast on a person or object. This would then act like an alarm to the person who cast the spell if it was ever broken.

"Those are remarkably hard to spot, and neither of us was looking for them at the time," Rias said, lifting her cup of tea to her lips, tears coming unbidden to her eyes for a moment before she blinked them away. "And besides that, given the fact that my father at least is involved in this, I don't want to stay here even a moment longer then we have to."

The house Rias and her peerage all lived in had been built and designed from the ground up by House Gremory, with a lot of assistance from Sirzechs on the side, so Akeno could see why her friend might be disgusted by that right now. "It's also a place where they know they'll be able to find you," Akeno said grimly, agreeing with her friend. "I'm surprised neither of the other two are awake yet, though."

"Koneko is over with Gasper. She wanted to introduce him to a new series of anime and intended to have a bit of a sleepover. She's not making any real progress in getting Gasper to control himself or exit that room, but at least he's slowly more sociable thanks to her efforts," Rias replied.

Akeno giggled, a feeling of actual humor going through her for a moment despite their present circumstances. She had seen how Koneko teased then treated Gasper kindly one moment to the next. She thought it rather cute in a sort of sadistic way. "But what about Kiba?"

"What about me? And what are you two doing up, may I ask, Ojousama, Akeno-sama?" Kiba asked, bowing from the waist from where he stood in the doorway, having appeared there without either of the girls having noticed.

When Kiba straightened up that his eyes widened, a blush coming to his features as he swiftly turned around. This caused Rias and Akeno to blink, before they remembered that Rias was still naked, and Akeno was still dressed in her silk panties and bra.

Kiba went on as Rias Summoned their clothing from upstairs, ducking his head as the flying bits of clothing nearly nailed him in the face. "Gah, um, I, I heard you moving around, but I didn't think anything of it until you came in here. Is there something going on?"

The two girls exchanged glances as they pulled on shirts, Rias not bothering with her bra or panties in her hurry to become decent. Then as Akeno pulled on her skirt, Rias filled Kiba in on what they've discovered. The Knight was horrified at the idea of someone messing with his King and Queen's minds like that. He also wasn't certain what to think about the Gremory patriarch being involved with it. After all, the Gremory house prided itself on treating all of their peerages as family, so to hear they had treated their own daughter like this was doubly horrifying.

"What do you want me to do?" Kiba asked simply.

"We're not going to stay here, so we need to get ready to leave, now!" Rias said authoritatively.

"The problem is, all of our credit cards could be traced," Akeno warned. Having been on the run once, she knew some things about covering her trial.

Akeno went on hesitantly. "We could go to Ranma's? He is, after all, completely unaffiliated. There is no way that your parents know about him just yet. Even your brother would have trouble doing that."

And if they come to try and replace those charms on us, Ranma being there would be a major help, Akeno thought to herself but did not say aloud. While it was a consideration, it also made it seem as if they were trying to use Ranma, which she knew Rias was a little touchy about since it came far too close to the unpleasant reality.

"Surely he won't be able put all three of us up?" Kiba asked.

"For a single night, maybe," Rias said thoughtfully, not meeting Akeno's gaze. She knew what Akeno had been thinking, and it was a good thought, but she hated it! She really did not want to use her friend like that. "I don't suppose you could ask to stay with Tsubaki for a time?"

Kiba flushed. "We're not that far along in our relationship," he admonished. "But I have friends I can stay with for the night. Yet, speaking of Tsubaki-san, could you not go to Sitri-sama? I'm certain she and her peerage would be willing to help."

"No. This is an internal Gremory matter. While Sona would probably like to help, her position as the Sitri heir won't let her become involved in a inter-clan problem," Rias said shaking her head, "and I can't ask her to anyway. No, I'm afraid we're going to have to impose on Ranma for the night, I think."

OOOOOOO

"That's interesting," said Lord Zeoticus Gremory, looking out into the distance. "The compulsion spells on my daughter and her Queen have faded."

"The one that was keeping Rias from experimenting with the Power of Destruction?" asked his friend Lord Phenex, who had come over to share some new wine he had acquired from the human world. "Interesting. I would've thought that she would never even be able to discover it. It was a remarkably subtle piece of work."

"Mind magics can often be overcome by simple logical questions or constructions," Lord Gremory said clinically, still looking out into the distance, not seeing his friend or his study all around him. "Both Rias and Akeno are now free of them. Interesting indeed. Akeno's actually broke first."

"Still, they've done their job. So long as they can't figure out who was behind those spells. Can they?"

"No, I don't think either girl is capable of discovering that. But it does put us in a bit of a curious position. If they start training, there is a possibility of them either becoming strong enough to win the rating game my son has so foolishly begun to set up between Riser and Rias, or be strong enough to challenge Riser outright. Your son is arrogant to the point of stupidity, and might well accept any challenge if it was worded as an attack on his pride," Zeoticus said, his voice still cynical.

"True," grumped Lord Phenex. "However we could even use that arrogance to hasten things along. My son can jump the gun a little. That way we can head that kind of thing off and force Rias into the rating game on our terms."

"I still abhor the necessity," Lord Gremory said, shaking his head. "I could wish for someone else to have stepped up and challenged Riser for her hand, but no other pureblood devil has. None that isn't too close in blood type, anyway. Sairaorg would challenge Riser for her hand in a second if he thought he could get away with it."

Beside him his wife Venelana frowned too. Both of those points were true: that no one had challenged house Gremory for the right to marry Rias, and that Sairaorg would challenge Riser and possibly slaughter the fool. The most powerful of the up-and-coming devils was a very direct young man, who her family had foolishly cast aside for having no inherent talent with their family magic. His current position and strength flew in the face of that, but he was unsuitable not only because they were too closely related, but because he believed that strength and honor mattered far more than purity of blood.

Venelana hated the necessity and had hoped like her husband that some other devil would step up to try and woo Rias. But Rias's fascination with the human world had turned people away from her even before she had moved to the human realm, and neither of her parents had the heart to stop her from enjoying her life as she saw fit before her marriage.

The idea of Rias marrying some turned human or other being did not even occur to Venelana. Even knowing her daughter would be unhappy with it, she firmly believed that devils should marry devils, lest half breeds literally breed them out of existence. So Venelana said nothing as her husband agreed that Riser could go to Earth to pressure Rias into their marriage early. None of the three demons could have any idea of the chaos this simple decision would set into motion.

OOOOOOO

Ranma grumbled to herself as she moved to answer the door. Damn it, this had better not be one of my old rivals. I like the idea of someone actually being polite enough to knock, but it is freaking late, and I need my damn sleep! I do not want to know what my mom would do to me if the teachers called home about me sleeping in class!

Throwing the front door open with enough force to squish anyone hiding behind it while also silently enough to not wake up anyone upstairs, Ranma growled out, "Do you have any idea what time it…" Ranma stumbled to a halt, staring at Akeno, Rias, and Kiba.

Rias looked to be shaking, her body look and eyes telling him that she had just had a major shock at some point in the recent past, and Akeno too was looking rather shocky, none of her normal poise or control in evidence. Only Kiba looked anything approaching normal, but there was a grim cast to even his pretty boy features. Sighing, Ranma stood aside, gesturing them inside, looking closely at Rias. "So. What's going on, and how can I help?"

End Chapter

---

This is not the chapter I had expected it to be. I wanted to put a bit of the actual storm in here rather than just the buildup to said. Still, the Ranma/Issei interaction bits sprang an attack on me, and I think it works. I hope however to cover more events, if not actual time, in the next few chapters, and to bring back the echi and sheer Ranma chaos that only showed up occasionally in this chapter. Despite that, I hope you all enjoyed this!