FILFY teacher

by Vimesenthusiast

A Harry Potter who has tried to take control of his destiny from second year on finds himself in need of a fresh start. Armed with some abilities beyond the norm, a Mastery of Defense and a muggle-style teacher's license, Harry takes his daughter Lily Luna and takes a job offer at Kuoh Academy, not knowing how big the world beyond the Wizarding World is. Pairings Harry/Rias/many.

15. Chapter 15

FILFy teacher won the Large/Medium story poll this month, and as such here we are. In other news, can I just say there is more NaruCRAP in the DxD crossover page than I have ever seen elsewhere? WTF people, there are other male leads you can cross DxD with! That isn't to say all of them are bad, but more than two/thirds of the crossovers out there are Naruto, and of them only about ten are decent. Sad.

This has been edited by Nad Destroyer. I've also gone over most of it with Grammarly, but that's it. This no doubt means that there will be numerous mistakes throughout. I also apologize for getting this out so late tonight. It took me around five hours to go through once I got it back, and even now I know there will be mistakes.

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Chapter 15: Religious XXX, Foxy Times, Monkey Business and Magic Too

Given their positions in the governments that they both led, it wouldn't surprise anyone who knew about the Three Factions in the first place that when they met, Azazel and Sirzechs had to do so in such a way as to have no one to be aware that any such meeting took place. This was common sense given the opponents they had to the peace talks they were both pushing for, had pushed toward for many years even before the Khaos Brigade began their campaign of terror.

What probably would have surprised many of Sirzechs' advisers, or indeed anyone who knew him, was where their meetings routinely took place when Azazel was in charge of picking said meeting place. A case in point was the current meeting, which was happening not in some human hotel far away from any territory that either of their factions would be able to claim, not in some grand, well-defended Fallen Angel territory.

No, it was occurring in a titty bar. A titty bar in the human city of Maui in Hawaii. That was it. There was nothing special about it, nothing that stood out in anyone's mind. It was simply one den of sin among many. Which ironically, meant that both Devil and Fallen could fit in here without much effort. Admittedly given their personalities, Azazel did so far better than the current Maou Lucifer.

"Oh yes! Woo hoo! Take it off!" Azazel shouted, whistling and shouting along with the rest of the audience as he stared at the main dancer, who was some kind of big shot in the adult porn community, here to celebrate some important date or other. Azazel hadn't cared about that, no, what he cared about were the tits the woman was displaying. Woo, who cares if they're real, those things are freaking amazing!

Across from Azazel in the private booth he had bought for the evening Sirzechs was very pointedly looking away, and Azazel laughed. "Come on man! You're the Devil among us; you can't be that much of a prude can you?"

"Prude no, prudent, yes. You know who my wife is after all. Do you honestly think that I want to find out what Grayfia-chan would do to me if she caught me even coming to a place like this, let alone actually looking at the girls?" He tossed a bare glance towards the main pole and all of the other dancers and waitresses before going on, his tone turning from one of wry amusement to that of self-satisfied complacency. "Besides, put all of these women together, and they still couldn't hold a candle to my wife."

"Smug bastard," Azazel said, shaking his head. Still, he didn't deny the man's point, it was true after all. Hell, if the woman didn't scare me almost as much as her husband did, I would probably make a play for her myself.

That was a thought the Governor-General of the Grigori would never share with anyone: the fact that he was scared of the current Maou Lucifer, more than he had been by his predecessor. Azazel was a survivor of the worst war that the supernatural side of Earth had ever seen, a three-way holocaust of destruction during which he had met the original Lucifer. He had fought alongside Michael, Lord Commander of the Armies of Light. He had spoken with Metatron, the Voice of God, seen the original Leviathan and Beelzebub in action.

And yet for all of that, only the original God had more power than the calm, red-haired man across from him. He and his friend Ajuka were so powerful, the Devils had coined a new term for them, Super Devils. Azazel knew this to not only be appropriate but to also be underselling things. So yes, Azazel was afraid of the other man, but he would never admit it, not to anyone. That would ruin his image after all.

Finally, he turned away from the pole dancers, smirking at the other man's discomfort. "If you want to get down to business we can." His tone became instantly serious as he moved on, leaning forward. "My investigators, even Tobio Ikuse and Baraquiel have not been able to find any hint of Ophis's whereabouts. What about you?"

"Nothing on our end either," Sirzechs replied shaking his head. "Whatever wards she is using to hide her presence, are magnificent, almost to the level of the European Wizarding World's."

"Yeah," Azazel drawled, "Isn't that an odd thought? That she is able to hide so well?"

Sirzechs nodded, also seeing the implications the other man was hinting at, but not voicing it just yet.

It had been four days since Ophis's being involved with the Khaos Brigade had been found out thanks to her attempt to recruit Harry Potter. And even now as he thought about that, Sirzechs had to shake his head at the sheer balls that his dear sister's husband showed by refusing that offer. And not only refusing but doing so in such a way that both infuriated Ophis and allowed him to get away with it. It was an astonishing act. Sirzechs had spent more than a few hours going over the memory of that moment with his best friend Ajuka after Harry had submitted it for their perusal.

He came back to the here and now as Azazel went on. "I think it's time we call off the search. I'm losing people to the damn Khaos Brigade whenever they feel like ambushing us, and besides which, what the hell would we do if we found her? It and whatever other allies or follower's she's brought together. Ugh, still wondering about it choosing a female form, and a child at that. Freaking me out, that is."

"It would be like catching a dragon by the tail wouldn't it," Sirzechs said musingly. "It would be an insane gamble to attack Ophis like that, even if we were able to gather the strongest of all three factions, or even add some of the other pantheons into the attack."

"Not fucking likely on that last one, freaking Hinduists." Azazel muttered, "They think they're all that just because they were able to stave off God's attempt to move into India."

"Well to be fair, they and their alliance with the Buddhists were one of only a few that was able to actually succeed at that," Sirzechs replied mildly, amused at Azazel's attitude. Azazel had still been an Angel at that point, and sometimes when he talked about that time of his life he reverted to the opinions he'd held back then.

"Could Potter help us find Ophis?" Azazel asked, turning back to the original question. "I mean he's met it, her, whatever the fuck it is, and from my limited understanding of Wizarding World type spells that means he should have a few ways to track her."

"I doubt it, not against the wards we know that she has up around her somewhere. And besides which, even if we could find her, as you just said, fighting Ophis on her own ground with the Khaos Brigade there to help would take much more might than we could possibly bring to bear without warning them we were coming."

"Yeah," Azazel muttered his eyes narrowing. "The Khaos Brigade's spies among our own people. Any luck on your end there?"

"Quite a bit actually," Sirzechs replied with a thin smile. "We've ousted a good portion of the Old Satan faction, shifted quite a lot of their attention to hiding themselves rather than making trouble. Although, I think we might have missed the biggest guns among them. Still, my rear is secure at least, so there's that. What about on your end?"

Azazel smiled thinly, sardonic humor clear on his face as he took along the gulp of his drink. Sirzechs didn't have any idea what was in that cup only that Azazel had brought it with him, sneaking it past the humans with ease, and that the smell of it alone was causing him to shake his head warily. "Well there, the attack on your little sister and her friends actually helped me. It looks as if that took out most of if not all of the more combative people who might have joined with the Khaos Brigade among my people."

"But that is most definitely an example of finding a silver lining to an utter fucking disaster," Azazel said, shaking his head. "My people are already noticing how many of us are missing despite how spread out our population centers are here on Earth and in the Underworld. Damn the Internet and social media anyway," he finished with a light growl.

"You didn't say that when it first came out, you said and I quote 'what a magnificent tool for narcissism and Sin, I'm certain that with this and about 10 years work, what little power Heaven has will dry up like grass'. Are you admitting you were wrong?" Sirzechs asked with a laugh.

"So the church did a better job at embracing the Internet then my people did, sue me," Azazel muttered. "At least we did a better job of getting into Hollywood than you Devils did."

"That's true," Sirzechs said, smiling brightly at him. "There are just some things that are far too dark even for Devils. Hollywood and its inner workings are certainly one of them."

The two of them looked at one another and exchanged a laugh before Azazel went on more seriously. "But anyway, there are going to be a lot of questions asked, soon. The rest of the Grigori and I are preparing for the fallout, but it's still going to be nasty."

"I would just remind you once again to not try to attack my sister or her allies in Kuoh. It will end very poorly for you all," Sirzechs said mildly though there was nothing mild about his eyes.

"Yeah, I sort of got that impression from what you passed on about the wards. I would love to investigate those myself…" Azazel said leadingly letting a smirk cross his handsome features as one hand moved to stroke his short goatee.

"No you wouldn't, you like being alive too much," Sirzechs replied dryly.

Azazel laughed. "There are ways around every ward, just look at how your faction infiltrated the Wizarding World."

"Yes, and look how long did that take us after they put up those gigantic Notice Me Not Wards, what, 130 years? More? We've only been able to get through them in the past year. Not exactly a good track record on our part when it comes to getting through human ingenuity."

"Oh, you could possibly repress them, but not for very long, and you couldn't break them. And the idea of you going to even take a look would probably end up with you dying, and in so doing restarting the war that we are trying so desperately to make certain never comes again

Azazel scoffed again and then shook his head. "If little Mittelt and sexy Kala are part of their crew now I don't see why they're so bothered about me sending the two of them and Raynare there. Raynare's orders were simple enough, once we were able to identify where the next Longinous to awake was going to reform she was only to watch, that's all. Nothing she did beyond that was under my orders and you know it."

"Yet you didn't do anything to rein them in when it became clear that they were bringing in Asia Argento or all of those exiled exorcists. And that's not saying anything about Raynare and her team being there, in territory claimed by Devils, in the first place. Make no mistake, it was the Grigori's presence at the peace talks that was the sticking point to having the peace talks in Kuoh, and it remains a sore point that you will be representing the Grigori personally."

"And the demand that he passed on that Akeno's father can't join us? That hurt him, I have to tell you," Azazel said seriously, remembering the stricken look Baraquiel had when he heard that demand.

Sirzechs again shrugged in utter unconcern. "If he wanted to have some kind of relationship with his daughter, he should've reached out to Akeno-chan before this. I won't say that their differences are irreconcilable, but it certainly isn't going to happen at the peace talks."

Azazel grimaced but nodded. "I suppose I can understand their point there, that is a bad place to try for a reconciliation. And how goes getting Michael and his lot to the table?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject. He was utterly annoyed at the Kuoh group's demands, but couldn't deny they had the leverage there, but to also deny him the chance to look at their wards? To a magical tinkerer like him, who loved to examine magical items like the Sacred Gears and other stuff; that was just painful.

"Michael is amenable," Sirzechs began with a faint smile, "indeed, Asmodeus's sweetening of the pot was more than enough to get his attention."

"And I still can't believe you're doing that," Azazel said with a sigh. "Handing over a blueprint for a system that the Angels could use to once more build up their numbers? It's ridiculous."

"It would be if they were still losing people. But they're not, and if not for the fact that the angels were actually the least of our worries. The Church is my chief concern there, and you know it," Sirzechs said repressively.

Azazel grimaced but conceded the point. It was a fact that he, of all the survivors from those dark days, knew more than most. To most who made up the Three Factions the great war between them had been a draw. But if you looked at the war more closely, and if you knew The Great Secret, that was so much bullshit. That secret was the fact the fallen priest Valper had shared with Potter and the others: that God, the biblical God who had once been called Yahweh before assuming other names, had died during the Great War. And with that, it became easy to see that Heaven had lost the war, badly.

Azazel could remember that time as if it was yesterday. Some things you just could not forget even if you tried. The news that God had died, the turmoil in the angel's ranks, Michael's assumption of command the bugles of Heaven sounding a retreat for the first time. He remembered it all. Azazel had known at the time with all the certainty of a veteran campaigner, that if the Fallen and the Devils were able to set aside their differences and turn their full force on the angels, not even Michael's genius for tactics would be enough to turn the tide. They could have defeated the angels for all time, shattered the Heaven System, and broken the power that would later become the church before it could even be built.

But they couldn't turn their attention just on the angels. The Devils and Fallen hated one another just as much as they hated the angels themselves. They refused to work together and had turned on one another with even greater ferocity as the Angels had retreated in good order under Michael's command.

And there had been another reason too: one that Azazel, looking back on it, could understand with more honesty than most: Respect. It was respect for Yahweh that stayed Azazel's hand and the hands of most of his brethren. Respect for God, and the fact that in the midst of a war for the future of his own religion, he had turned aside. Turned aside and then used the vast majority of his power to seal away an evil that would have shattered the earth, that would have made all of them into dust and ashes, that would have slain humanity, devil, fallen and Angel alike.

Where that creature came from Azazel still had no idea. Not from the void between dimensions for certain. Ophis and her successor the Great Red were the only creatures to have evolved there. No, 666 came from somewhere else, from Beyond. And it had been terrible. Even the other pantheons would've been helpless against the power of 666, the Beast of Destruction, all of them retreating in terror at its mere arrival on this plane. And then it was sealed away, sent back where it had come from by God's power.

That was another reason why Azazel wasn't exactly displeased to have learned Kokabiel had been killed in his attack on Kuoh. Kokabiel had been the one to strike God down when he was weakened when anyone with any pride or respect for themselves let alone God or his sacrifice, should have stayed their hand. Kokabiel had not.

Azazel hadn't known it at the time, no one had, but he'd put it together later, and hadn't known whether to be impressed by Kokabiel's dedication to the cause or appalled. And by that point, even sharing that information with others would have been a bad idea, since he honestly had no idea how the rest of the Fallen would have responded to that news.

After the war, the Fallen's ranks had continued to grow by Angels falling from grace, disillusioned with Michael's leadership or a world without their creator in it. Still more Fallen had learned they could have children. The Devils had rebuilt their numbers slowly for a time the old-fashioned way as well, and then came the discovery of the Peerage System, which helped them build their numbers even faster, although it did lead directly to internal divisions among the Devils which replaced the old New/Old Satan factions.

Both Devils and Fallen had to rely on conversion for most of their numbers since, for the most part, they had a lot of trouble getting pregnant. And the Fallen Angels were not as good at that as Devils were, even before the Peerage System was discovered.

The Angels couldn't rebuild their numbers at all. They couldn't have sex which, Azazel always said, was the number one reason why so many fell. They couldn't bring in human heroes any longer, only God could approve a soul for rebirth as a Saint, and God was dead. Michael might have been able to take on the mantle of the Heaven system, but he couldn't use all its powers.

So by any measure, it was Heaven which should be in the worst position of the Three Factions.

But that was only if you didn't consider the church: the human edifice that had been built around God, his teachings, and his followers. An edifice that, made the Angels the most strategically well-placed of the three factions.

But it was the humans of the Church, the thousands of exorcists the Church could call on for every one devil or fallen and the massive amount of magical potential that the church, and even the less organized Islamic and Hebrew faiths created through their worship, which truly made the Heaven Faction dangerous. That vast, monstrous amount of magical potential could be used offensively or defensively, although thankfully very few humans could call upon it without dying in the doing.

The Archangels were another matter, however, but there their numbers still played a part in how they acted in the human world. Yet the humans were far harder to predict, making them more dangerous. The Church as an entity was slow to act, slower by far to take offensive actions, but if they did, they could be devastating.

And even in the area of the power of individual members, the other two factions could be matched by the Angels because the church, although it was somewhat strained, had a mutual defense pact with the Buddhists and Hinduists of India. Their gods were still around, unwilling to proselytize, but also unwilling to give up what was theirs and many of them were counted among the top ten strongest mystical entities around. The only two of the Three Factions who could be placed on that list currently were the two Super-Devils, Sirzechs and Ajuka. Not even Azazel, for all his experience and skill, was on that list.

"How did Michael take the idea of human magic users and the Youkai Association being given places at the talks?" Azazel asked.

"Quite well actually, or at least according to Serafall he did. Reading between the lines I think he has, more than either of us, realized that what they lack in raw power, they make up for intelligence and applicability. Oh, even their strongest members couldn't match our strength for strength, but they could severely hurt us. The Church representatives might have a problem with it given their propaganda against magic users, but Michael has said he'll handle that. But I don't have any sources of information in the church, so…" He ended leadingly, looking at Azazel.

Azazel had a few contacts on the Church side of things, in particular among a few of the exorcist training academies, and even two Cardinals who passed on information to him in the hopes of keeping any violence from being discovered by the nonmagicals. For some reason that Sirzechs couldn't follow though they weren't willing to work with the actual devils.

"I'm hearing some rumblings of concern about the two Exorcists that were sent into Kuoh. They were there with Potter at the end and heard that ass Valper say Yahweh was dead. That kind of talk could destroy the Church obviously, so they are very leery about letting them back. But they also can't turn aside the Excalibur fragments the two have recovered and carried into battle there, so they have to eventually let them return home. Beyond that, I am hearing rumblings about a, call it an Anti-Potter faction among the Cardinals. They don't like the fact he's so strong, or some of the specifics the two exorcists have passed on about him. Some of the powers the exorcists reported worry them immensely, including his claim to demi-god status. But they aren't going to do anything about it just yet."

He leaned back, his head lolling to one side as he looked over at the dancers again. "The church has lost about maybe two hundred exorcists all told and thirteen Sacred Gear users to the Khaos Brigade, recruited or killed, although they've been able to keep a secret for now. They're also, of course, gaining headway among the caucuses and Russia, since there's no local pantheon there and the Russian Orthodox Church not being willing to reach out to the Holy See. What about you, anything new on the intelligence front?"

Sirzechs sighed, almost slumping in place. "I have it on good authority, as in six sources or more, that the Khaos Brigade is looking to recruit in India."

That made Azazel sit up and take notice and he turned his full attention on Sirzechs again. "Really? Are you certain!? That is really playing with fucking fire."

"That was my thought too. But it is confirmed. And… And Indra has reached out to me. Personally. He pretty much demanded a place at the peace table. He seems to think that something is going on which could break the secret of magic wide open and that it's connected to the Khaos faction," Sirzechs replied.

"That's not good," Azazel said.

"Especially not with what else I've been getting reports on lately. You know I've got contacts in the Wizarding World of course," Sirzechs began.

"Right, that's how you got Harry Potter to take an interest in your little sister's problems. How'd that work out for you by the way, are you happy with an older man banging her? Isn't that what you were trying to stop from happening?" Azazel said with a smirk, hoping to get a rise out of the other man. This conversation was too damn serious for his liking right now and he wanted a bit of time to think about the implications of the India Alliance getting involved with the rest of the mystical world again.

"Not as old as Riser is in comparison, and she seems to be quite happy with it," Sirzechs said, his face somewhat strained. "Let's just not talk about it right now. I'm still having control issues. I feel Hawaii sinking into the ocean would be very hard to explain to the rest of the world."

Azazel chuckled but didn't follow up on that one, knowing that there was more than a hint of truth in his words. The Siscon bastard. Still, I've had my fun. "You were saying?"

"Someone is recruiting wizards. Not just magicians, that's been going on for ages but among the Wizarding World population. Not just the humans either, but wizard-trained turned werewolves, turned Vampires, and nearly every other group hidden behind those massive wards the International Confederation of Wizards threw up all those centuries ago," Sirzechs replied bluntly.

Azazel's face went blank, all his earlier humor vanishing, and he leaned back, frowning angrily. "Okay, that's fucking worrisome."

Wizards normally weren't even a pinprick in terms of power. There were notable exceptions, like the so-called dark Lords and light lords that sometimes cropped up among them and like Harry Potter who they had just been talking about. But generally, it would take ten to fifteen wizards and witches to match even a low tier Devil, Angel or Fallen. But, that rule of thumb didn't take into account the use of the Unforgivables, spells which targeted the soul of their victims.

That was something that even Devils found anathema, something that even his own people wouldn't do. The soul was sacrosanct, simple as that. And that was true for every magical society except for the wizards. It was one reason why every other magical society out there had been more than happy to watch the wizards disappear behind their massive Notice-me-not arrays. Good riddance, in other words. Even the vampires and werewolves were happy to see their turned fellows go with the rest of them, which was saying something about the vampires at least. The werewolves, and how insular the packs were, made their side of that not so surprising

And then there was the general versatility of wizard magic, of their runes and wards. With all that if, say a hundred of that world's malcontents joined the Khaos Brigade, they were going to have an impact out of all proportions of their numbers. "What are we doing about it?"

"My contacts in that world are non-combatants; they can't go looking for these people. But… they were able to tell me about a few meetings, and I can get a few Devils under those wards for a bit. So we might be able to disrupt things. But one of those meetings is happening in South America, and your faction is stronger there than we Devils. Do you think you'd be willing to do something about that one?"

"Sure." Azazel sighed. "It'll give Vali something to do and give him a fight against some magic users like Potter, something he's been bugging me about." He looked at Lucifer closely. "But with everything that's been going on, the peace talks have become even more important. What are your sister and her friends… and lover," he added with a grin, "doing to make certain the peace talks go off without a hitch?"

"The formal peace talks are months in the future given everything we need to all agree to before that, but I can assure you that they are no doubt doing all they can to make Kuoh even more secure," Sirzechs said with one hundred percent certainty ringing in his voice along with a fair amount of pride. "I bet even now they are doing something that will either strengthen those wards or training themselves to be stronger."

"Since it's about an hour before dawn in Japan at this time, I doubt that," Azazael said, taking the wind out of the younger man's sails before once more changing the subject. They still had a lot to talk about after all.

OOOOOOO

Rias's orgasmic scream echoed around their bedroom as she threw her head back, her spine arching, her eyes rolling up in her head while Harry finished inside her with a near-roar, unable to hold back any longer. She had been riding him cowgirl style, but as she went limp he held her upright by two hands on her breasts, his thumbs having been slowly working her hard nipples. Now those hands shifted, slowly moving around Rias's back, and drawing her limp body down on top of him, her sweaty breasts pressing into his equally sweaty chest as she rested her head on his shoulder, her breathing slowly returning to normal as she recovered.

Both of them were covered with sweat, and Harry felt his wizard's staff slowly sliding out of her, ignoring Rias's moan of wordless protest. A second later their mixed juices ran down to form another stain between their legs as they lay on their bed, and Harry shook his head woozily. That was amazing. Woo. For a moment, Harry could only lie there, breathing in Rias's scent, his hands gently running down her back, up and down, feeling the dampness of her skin, reveling in the touch as she murmured happily under his touch.

Tonight had been a little wild even by their standards, and Harry idly wondered how many times they'd had sex tonight. He'd lost count at around seven or eight orgasms for himself, and upwards of twenty-four for Rias. One thing is for sure though this bed should thank all that is good and just in the world that there are cleaning charms. And the room for repairing charms too, Harry thought as he noticed one dent in a wall that they'd made in a particularly intense bout of lovemaking. Well, Rias had called it fucking at the time, but you don't tend to kiss people with your heart in your eyes and murmur I love you against their lips when you're just screwing someone senseless.

He then blinked as he stared at the window, and all thought about asking Rias if she was satisfied for the evening or willing to go again, because he certainly was, left his mind. Instead, he began to chuckle.

This caused Rias to blink, looking up at him blearily through sweat-wet hair matted against her forehead and face. "What is it?" She asked, her tone of voice showing no sign of being exhausted from their exertions

"Good morning Rias," Harry said with a smile, leaning down to kiss her tenderly.

She kissed him back readily enough, before pulling back, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Morning? What are you…"

Harry held up a finger in front of Rias's face then slowly directed her attention towards the window, where the sun was indeed rising over the horizon. Rias started, blinked, blinked again, and then began to giggle, as Harry chuckled underneath her, holding her tenderly to him. "Are you telling me," she said between giggles, "that we, we were making love all night?"

"Pretty much," Harry said with a nod. "I remember sleeping for a few minutes here and there I think, but no more than that surely. Are you feeling tired?" He asked solicitously. He wasn't, thanks to his werewolf endurance, even before becoming a demigod Harry would have been able to go all night, although he never had done so. Now though Harry had tested himself a few times and found he could go several days without sleep when working on a magical experiment.

"Not on your life I feel, I feel exuberant almost," Rias said with a laugh before leaning in and kissing him tenderly again, after which propped herself up on her elbows to look into his face. Indeed with her Lust sated, Rias felt almost revitalized, her demonic heritage letting her take sustenance from that like an old-time succubus in many ways.

The two of them just looked at one another for a moment, and then Harry leaned in gently and kissed her again. Rias responded just as gently but neither Harry nor Rias were eager to renew their activities of the night. They had other things to see to, and with her Lust still sated from their last lovemaking session, Rias was more than willing to start her day.

Gently rolling off of Harry Rias stood up and stretched unashamedly as she felt Harry's eyes on her, their mixed juices still dripping down her legs. Behind her Harry stayed in bed for a moment watching her, then roused himself, sliding out of bed on the other side from her, the better to keep from the temptation of dragging Rias back to bed. Now it was her turn to watch as he pulled on his boxers, unintentionally flexing as he did so. "Have you heard anything from your brother?"

Rias blinked at the question and then glared down at her body for a second. Stop that, you've just had an entire night with the man, and not a bit of actual sleep did you get. I am in charge of my Lust, not the other way around! Looking back up at Harry she shook her head. "No, I didn't, not about the Khaos Brigade anyway. And Sona said yesterday that her sister hadn't yet told her anything yet either. I think they're running into a roadblock on their investigations, even with knowing that it's Ophis that is backing the Khaos Brigade. After all, she's not like a regular god who has a set territory we could search for her or anything like that. She could be literally anywhere on earth, warded against detection. Or maybe they just are having trouble figuring out what to do in the first place, given how strong she is."

"Well, that's annoying." The two of them exchanged a glance, and then shrugged philosophically. It was true that Kuoh was a tempting target, but it was also a tough one and would be getting more so over the next few months if everything worked out. Mainly thanks to Tsubaki and Kala's work on the magical side of things. Both of them and been hinting at some kind of breakthrough recently, and he hoped that they were right.

Harry had not actually been of much help on anything in that area since coming back from the mission with the exorcists. He had first spent his time preparing to pass on a bundle of memories from that mission to Lucifer, and then much of his free time had been taken up with meetings with the Onmyodo government. "Regardless we have other things to do."

"All too true. Although don't take this wrong way, Harry, but I hope that Lily and the other kids start acting a little better after this past week." The kids had not been very well-behaved the past week, dealing with a series of tests and boring projects at school. Some projects were sort of fun according to Lily, but the tests were decidedly not.

"Hopefully, but while they're good kids, even good kids can sometimes run into trouble like that," Harry said, holding out his elbow towards her. She laughed but linked her arm with his for the few steps it took to get to the attic's trapdoor, where he opened the hatch for her.

The two of them found Kala already awake of course, in the kitchen. Teddy was there too, sitting across from Akeno, as she helped him with his math. Tonks was utter pants at math, and Akeno had volunteered to help them with it instead. The boy had happily accepted, though Harry doubted that was entirely due to being grateful for the help, judging by the way his eyes were straying down to Akeno's chest as she leaned across the table to point at a mistake Teddy had just made. The girls were nowhere to be seen just yet, though Harry had heard them moving around upstairs.

Akeno smiled as she looked up at them. "Good morning, Rias-chan, Harry-sensei~." She stood up and moved over to a tea kettle, where she gently stirred a single leaf into it that hadn't already joined the rest of the liquid. She held two cups out towards them, and both Harry and Rias took one, whereupon she poured the tea into the cups one after another, gently humming to herself.

Harry smiled at her, over the edge of the cup, looking over at Teddy. "And how are you doing on your math with Akeno helping you Teddy?"

"It's a little hard even with Akeno helping," Teddy said honestly. "They expect us to know so much! I seriously think that there is something wrong with the school system here in Japan, or maybe back home in the UK if they didn't prepare us for this kind of thing."

Akeno giggled. "Ara, hard is it? Well, I hope I've made it easier for you then it would be otherwise. After all, it isn't you that I want to be causing a hard… time for," she murmured, smiling wickedly over her own tea at Harry.

"Heh, not bad, but I feel you had to work a little too much to make it fit," Harry replied to Akeno's habitual teasing, and then took a sip, and smiled. "This is good, thank you."

Koneko appeared then, looking a little drowsy. She waved her hands at the others, and Harry asked lightly, "Late night?"

She nodded, but at his look, she elaborated. "I was up late last night playing games with Gasper."

Rias nodded at the mention of her shut-in Bishop. "I'm going to try my darndest to get him out of his basement sometime this coming month. I think it's time you and he met Harry, and we've let him be alone as he wished to be for long enough."

"We've talked online several times, but it would indeed be nice to meet him in the flesh at last," Harry replied. "Is he really fine being locked away alone like that though? I know that would drive me batty," Harry said his tone that of extreme understatement.

"Yes, unfortunately, he does," Rias said with a sigh. "That and his immensely powerful Sacred Gear has made it hard to truly treat him as a member of my peerage."

Nodding, Harry moved over to help Kala with the breakfast, whereupon he started to flirt with her as Akeno started to set the table and Lily and Kunou came in dressed and ready for school, along with Yubelluna, who smiled at them all, having helped the kids get ready. Akeno also started to send little flirtatious comments Harry's way, who replied in kind.

Rias sat down next to Lily and the little girl leaned into her side as Rias put an arm around her sighing in pure contentment. A night full of lovemaking and a morning family scene. Although she knew others might've thought that blasphemous, considering her race, this was her idea of heaven. But that is just it, she reflected with a chuckle as she watched Akeno fight back a blush at something Harry had just said that she had missed, heaven really is a place on earth.

She watched Harry and Akeno closely, smiling internally as Harry split his attention between helping Kala with breakfast and flirting with her, and trading flirtatious jibes with Akeno. The two of them are coming to a boil quite nicely, she thought complacently. Rias hadn't had anything to do with it of course; in fact, she had very purposefully not had anything to do with it. Looking back on their former attempt at a relationship, Rias knew that she had pushed both of them into their relationship when, if for very different reasons, they weren't quite ready for it.

Akeno had yet to realize how much of a family man Harry was. At the time Akeno had yet to truly gain control over her darker urges, her desire for pain and sadism, as well as admittedly, her natural desire to be the priority of the man she was with. That had faded noticeably, as Akeno had become more certain of herself, more certain not only in her position but in herself as an individual. Harry's and Rias's continued support and reconciling with at least a few of the Himejima clan in the form of Suzaku had helped in that area.

Still having problems with the idea of a polyamorous relationship in the first place and with his own not-quite disdain for the idea of bringing pain into the bedroom, Harry had also had issues that stopped him from embracing a relationship with Akeno. On top of that, Rias thought as she looked down at Lily, Harry had his own issues with any woman in his life. Rias didn't know, but she rather suspected that Harry knew at this point how much he had been pushing every woman he interacted with into becoming a kind of role model, a surrogate mother for Lily. But with Rias taking on that role quite happily that had stopped.

Akeno had thus been free to slip into her natural role as the teasing older sister, as evinced by what she had just been doing with Teddy, and Akeno and Harry had fallen back into gentle teasing, flirting and all-around fun. They had spent more time together both with the extended family, and alone than they had while going out, and Rias could tell their feelings were building up for one another again. She had seen it back when Harry had recovered from Blessing Yubelluna but become certain when they all went to that New Year's festival of the Onmyodo government.

Watching now, she saw Akeno turn away from setting the table, catching Harry looking at her, and she cocked an eyebrow inquisitively as she moved to prepare coffee for Tonks, the only coffee drinker among them at this point. He shook his head with a smile, allowing his eyes to linger just a little too long on her face, causing her to flush slightly and look away before he turned away to go back to fixing breakfast.

Of the people who lived in the main house or who routinely joined them for breakfast, Asia was still up in her room, but Harry and Kala had already set out a second bento for her to eat in her first class. She had been taking longer with her morning prayers since the battle against Kokabiel and his forces but none of the family had commented on it, knowing this was a coping mechanism for the young girl. Despite Harry's constant admonitions to the contrary, Asia still believed she was to blame for not being able to heal more of the wounded in that battle.

Today though, something unusual was going to happen this morning that would be taking up even more of Asia's time. "Are you sure you don't want any of us with you? More to keep help you keep a lid on your temper if they say something stupid to her than anything else," Rias said, adding the last with a quiet chuckle than anything else.

Harry laughed too, waving her off. "No, I think I'll be good thanks. Besides, this conversation is bound to include the use of the G-word a lot, and I'd rather not give you headaches if I can avoid it."

Lily frowned as she looked up from her own meal. "You're talking about that sword crazy duo's request to talk to Asia?" Harry nodded and his redheaded daughter frowned. Koneko frowned too, his Nekoshou daughter scowling irritably.

"I don't like it," she said bluntly. "They've stayed here for a week now without much contact with the rest of us, heck, Irina hasn't really left Issei's home much at all, and Xenovia hasn't left her hotel room, and now suddenly they want to talk to Asia? Suspicious."

The Devils and Harry had continued their observations of the two church exorcists, of course. As long as they were in Kuoh, that was simply common sense even if they all had full trust in his wards. There was after all the non-magical trouble they could cause if they wanted to cause trouble, although Harry didn't think they did.

Neither exorcist had recovered seemingly from the revelations that they had heard. Harry wasn't certain himself how to take it, that the God of the church might well be dead, slain before the church even had much of its power. But he had listened to their request to speak to Asia and had agreed to it. "Don't worry, I'll be here with her, and if they say anything, I'll toss them out of Kuoh entirely on their rears."

"Ara, I'm not certain I believe the whole idea that the Church hasn't been able to get them transportation back home just yet either. It sounds all too much like an excuse to linger around, but they haven't actually done any spying," Akeno said with a shrug. The only thing they've done is spar with Kiba and Issei." She then laughed wickedly. "Oh and in the case of Irina cause a fight between Issei and Ruruko and mooch off of his family."

Harry winced nodding. That had not been a pleasant day for young Issei he reflected, remembering how he himself had only seen the start of that little incident. Having walked Issei home that day to talk about further training his magical abilities, they had arrived at Issei's home to find Ruruko and Irina glaring at one another. Ruruko had turned to Issei and pointed at Irina angrily. "Issei! What is she doing here, living with you?! And when were you going to tell me!?"

Needless to say, Harry had given Issei a few words of advice then handed the problem over to his parents to solve with a certain amount of relief. Whether or not Issei's relationship with Sona's peerage member Ruruko would survive he didn't know.

She seemed somewhat shallow and self-centered, but then again, she was a teenager, and a lot of them were self-centered, just like teenage boys. Regardless, unless he comes to me for advice, it's not my problem Harry thought with a chuckle remembering his own forays into romance, and how more than one relationship he'd attempted at Hogwarts had floundered on the simple fact that Harry had chosen his friendship with Hermione and hanging out with her and Ron over dates with the girls in question. Of course, Hermione and I were attempting to put together a self-defense club at the time, so there was that, and always the looming trouble with Riddle to think about.

"I still want to let them talk to her. I hope this is an attempt to apologize for how they treated her, which they haven't done yet. If it's anything else, I'll toss them out on their ears and you can use them as punching bags Koneko," He said, rubbing her head. Koneko purred under his hands pushing up against it as she nodded firmly.

The other kids soon were escorted upstairs to start getting ready for the day by Rias and Akeno, Asia and Tonks not having made an appearance yet. Harry was cleaning up with Kala and Yubelluna when the doorbell rang. He answered it and found the two swordswomen standing there looking apprehensive. He nodded to them and said formally, "Be welcome in my home for the duration of your stay." This audible pneumonic informed the wards just as a touched head would have that these two were welcome here for now but were not being read permanently into them.

"You wanted to speak to Asia correct?" When the two girls nodded he waved them inside. "She's upstairs praying right now, so if you could come with me I'll take you to her."

The blue-haired one frowned but said nothing, and Irina simply smiled and nodded, following Harry inside and up to the second floor.

On the second floor, Harry knocked on the room that Asia shared with Koneko, and when he didn't receive a reply opened the door. He found his adopted daughter kneeling beside her bed, her hands clasped in front of her with the beads of her rosary visible around them as she prayed. She prayed with the earnest, firm and almost childlike belief in God as she always had, and she did not look up as the door opened behind her.

She could feel already Harry there, warm and powerfully protective, filling the area around him with a sense of welcome, to Asia at least. Despite that, she did not interrupt her prayer, until she reached the end of it, standing up slowly as she crossed herself and turned to the doorway, smiling brightly. "Hello Irina, Xenovia. Thank you for waiting."

"Not at all," Irina said with a laugh. "It would be very silly of us to mind something like that after all."

The other one just nodded, saying neutrally "So you do still pray. It's one thing to hear that you do so, but to see it in person…" she shook her head.

Asia nodded at that, although her lips had firmed just little as she looked at the two exorcists. "Ano, I, I was told you two wanted to speak to me? Though I'm not at all certain what kind of help I could be."

The two of them exchanged a glance, and as always, Xenovia spoke for the two of them. "Yes. First, we that is, well, predominantly I, wanted to apologize to you in person. The way we treated you, the way we spoke to you when we first met, was wrong, and you were undeserving of such from us. I apologize for what I said, and how I treated you," she said, getting the words out eventually if without much enthusiasm. It was evident that she was not used to apologizing.

Asia looked at them for a few moments and then nodded, her lips spreading into a wide smile. "Apology accepted," she chirped. "And thank you, while I didn't really take what you said to me personally, it was somewhat hurtful to know that two fellow believers in the word of God felt so poorly about me. But is that all that you wanted to talk about?" she asked, as she sat back on her bed, and indicated the two of them could sit down on Koneko's across from her.

Harry stayed where he was in the doorway, not taking part in the conversation, but most definitely a presence, as firm a presence as the wards around them that the two exorcists had best be on their best behavior. But he didn't think he'd be needed here. The two girls didn't look to be here for trouble. Indeed, Harry felt they looked a bit lost.

The two exorcists looked at one another as they sat down, and this time to Harry's surprise it was Irina who spoke up. Did, did the werewolf, that is, did Harry…"

"Father," Asia said firmly. "I am Asia Potter please, and he is my Father."

Irina nodded, although she still seemed to have some issues with Harry having become Asia's father like that. Of the two of them, she had been the one that seemed to stare at Asia's hair, which had turned black with only a single blonde streak within it to show its original color. Perhaps the idea of blood-based magic was one that Irina was still having issues with even if she had accepted everything else as being if not completely false then certainly mislabeled among the church teachings.

"Your father then. Did he tell you about, about what, about what that former priest told us? That God was dead?"

"Yes," she said with a nod, "he did."

"And you still pray," Irina said gesturing. "I mean…" she looked to her friend for help, and Xenovia spoke up now.

"If God has been dead for so long then what is the church!?" She said, her tone angry. "We have yet to hear back from the church, but Harry, he said that Kokabiel, that he actually claimed to have been the one to kill God in his mantra to activate more of his power reserves. Even for Fallen Angels, those mantras must be true, or else they just don't work. So God may well be dead. If so, what truth is there in his teachings, what, what truth is there in our faith!?"

"Since learning the truth we have been dealing with doubts," Irina said, taking up the tale for her friend as Xenovia tried to calm down. "We are exorcists. We have been raised in the faith of the church since before we could walk. We have seen it as truth, the word of God our gospel. To know that we have been lied to, to know that much of what we think was the word of God was really the word of man, it has put a lot of doubts in our minds."

Asia cocked her head, frowning quizzically "Why should that matter, surely this is not the first time you've doubted?"

Both looked at her in surprise. "Of course it is, why would we have doubted before this, that is what faith is isn't it? To never doubt. To know that the word of God has been passed to the church and through the church to you, to give of yourself fully into His hands and know that by living by His words you follow His will," Irina replied.

Asia's brows furrowed and she looked down at her rosary, stroking it with a thumb and seeming to find some strength in the touch. She looked back up at them, and then looked over to Harry, who simply smiled encouragement. She smiled back and then turned back resolutely to the two exorcists. "I cannot speak for how anyone else feels, only myself. Is that all right? Will that help?"

"In all honesty, we had come here to ask you when you realized that the church might not be the place for you. When you realized that you would never be able to return. But yes, if you have some word of wisdom to share please," Irina said. Now that he was looking for it, both of the two exorcists looked extremely distraught to Harry's eyes and had bags under their eyes as if they hadn't been getting much sleep lately.

"I doubt often," Asia said very simply as if she were talking about the weather. The other two looked at her in surprise, and she simply smiled wanly. "Every day I question whether or not I am worthy of this great gift, Twilight Healing. Am I worthy to call myself a believer despite my ability to heal those creatures who have never felt His light? Am I worthy of the happiness I found here?" she said looking over at Harry, who raised one eyebrow at her and then winked. She fought back a smile as she turned back to the others. "I can only strive to do my best, can only strive to be the best I can, to follow the word of God as the book understands it and I interpret it in turn, and in so doing I counter my doubt and I find my faith."

Both exorcists still looked torn, frowning back at her, and Asia's habitual smile thinned somewhat as she shook her head slowly. "It seems to me as if true sin comes from too much certainty in yourself and in your own ego. We can only look to the dark times of the church itself for that."

Both of her listeners winced, but she went on after a few moments. After all, it was undeniable to anyone who studied history that the church had committed grave wrongs in its time because it had been too certain in its own probity and strength. Too certain it alone knew what justice and good were, and that anyone who did not follow the word of God was a heathen to be slaughtered.

"But the fact I doubt is part of why I love God," She said with a smile, a beaming bright grin. "Because we are free to doubt. Because we are free to find our own faith. In that manner, we build a faith that is true, even as it continues to doubt. Even as we continue to question, we are free to make our own choice, and in that, we find God's true gift to humanity, that of free will."

Her face hardened and with her green eyes, just slightly lighter than Harry's own, giving off a sense of hard-won serenity. "Were this not the case, I would reject God," Asia said simply shocking her listeners to sit stand up straight and look at her in shock. "I would turn aside and denounce God to the world. I love God because I am his creation. I am not his slave," she said, her voice like steel for a moment.

Then she seemed to what lose her poise, looking away, blushing and stammering.

As the two exorcists tried to calm her down and tell her that what she had said had actually helped them quite a bit, Harry watched from the doorway, shaking his head as he remembered an old line he'd once heard. No strength as strong as gentleness. That line had been used to describe Dumbledore at the time, but I think it does much better with Asia than it ever did with him.

He clapped his hands together, and the three young women in the room looked to him. "I hate to break this up, but my daughter here needs to get ready to head to school. Will you two be leaving Kuoh today?"

"We will be leaving today yes," Xenovia said, nodding her head.

Irina frowned, "I wanted to say goodbye to Issei, but I think I've gotten him into enough trouble with his girlfriend. But I am not looking forward to going home."

The blue-haired girl smiled, looking back to Asia, then up to Harry. "I am strangely enough."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and she reached for her own rosary, visible as a lump under her blouse. "My doubts are my own, and I will treasure them, but I will still follow God's words because they are true and just, even if my interpretation has not been in the past. And if it does turn out that God truly is dead, that does not mean his message died with him. If the church decides to act against me for knowing that; that belief will not fade."

At that Harry escorted the two of them out to the street, where he stopped them and held out his hand to shake. "First impressions inside, the two of you have grown up a lot since we first met, and though I'd have to check with the others to make certain I think if the church does reject you, does not want you to rejoin them so that they can try to stop you from spreading the truth, if it is the truth, remember that you might have a home here. If you're willing to work at it."

"Thank you Potter-san," Irina said with a smile. "that means a lot. Although did you check in with Issei first? He gave me the same kind of speech."

Harry laughed shaking his head. "No, but that doesn't surprise me. The kid has too big a heart for his own good sometimes, despite his perversions."

She giggled, and after bowing from the waist to Harry, the two exorcists left walking down the road away from the Potter house.

Harry re-entered the house and moved up to Asia and Koneko's room again. Koneko had already taken Lily and Kunou to school, which left only Asia in her room ready to go. Kala and Yubelluna were still around the place, but each was doing their own thing as they always were in the mornings after breakfast.

He found Asia dressed in her school uniform, and without a word moved to her hugging her gently.

She hugged back, looking up at him quizzically, and he winked at her. "You said earlier that you have doubts whether or not you're worthy of being part of this family Asia, let me tell you, you will always be worth it. Because our love for you is free, given to you because of who you are, the gentle girl with a will of iron," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead gently.

Asia Potter blushed and stammered at that, but hugged back, murmuring wordless thanks into his chest before letting out a very cute 'eep' as Harry quickly picked her up in his arms Princess style. "Now, let's get to school before homeroom begins, shall we?"

"Wait, you're not going to teleport like this, are you? There's surely going to be someone in the clubroom!"

"Heh, I'm not only going to do that, but I'm also then going to walk out onto the schoolyard carrying you like this, bwhwwhha!" Harry said with an evil little laugh.

"Father no!" Asia shouted, beating at his chest ineffectively. "That will be so embarrassing!"

"It's part of a dad's duty to embarrass his daughters, isn't it? I've read that somewhere I think." Harry replied before he resumed cackling maniacally as he disappeared from his house in a burst of teleportation magic, happy to have broken the serious, thoughtful air his daughter had around her after talking to the two exorcists.

OOOOOOO

Elsewhere there was little humor to be found as Ophis looked over the newest members of the Khaos Brigade. After her return from interviewing Harry Potter for possible inclusion in the Brigade, Ophis, with Cao Cao and Vali both surprisingly – since they rarely agreed on anything - pushing for it, agreed to spend time recruiting, without doing anything too large-scale. And now not even a week later already their recruitment was bearing fruit.

Many of the new recruits were simple: killers, thieves and other lawless sorts from the fringes of mystical societies the world over. This was especially true about the group that originally came from India, or the territories around it which had once been part of India, men and women of the untouchable caste who wanted to tear the caste system down, or people who had committed heinous crimes in the eyes of the magical societies there. A Saracen assassin, who used magic and poison with equal dispatch, and who had come to enjoy their work. A brahmin caste man who believed that the power of runes could be used to capture and dominate gods and goddesses, who had barely escaped with his life thanks to Vali's intervention when a few of his fellows learned of his work's true purpose.

Several of the new Sacred Gear users were interesting, and she nodded as Cao-Cao introduced each of them to her. She didn't notice his eyes watching her every movement or the subtle nod he shared with one of them. As she finished looking over the information on the Sacred Gear users, she turned to Cao-Cao, looking at him with her nearly unemotional, uncaring eyes. "Your plans for dealing with this notion that the three factions of the Christian faith are going to be joining together? You said you had a plan," she intoned.

"I did. Their working together is a real problem," Cao-Cao admitted, his mind switching gears instantly from his own plans for the foolish creature in front of him, to the idea of dealing with the largest, most dangerous group of nonhumans that plagued this world. "I do have a plan however it is a bit more frontal assault type then I could wish. But if it is true that the peace talks are going to be held in Kuoh then guile and subterfuge will probably not serve us very well."

"No, not against those wards," Ophis said with a nod. Ophis had taken a look at them from afar, and their breadth had been impressive, even if their power had not been up to her own standards. "There are no ways around them, not if you can in any way become a threat to the individuals underneath them. The only way through time would be by brute force."

Exactly," Cao-Cao said with a nod. "That's why we've been working to bring in so many magic users. With them, we can at least suppress the wards long enough to get our forces inside."

Ophis shook her head. "No."

"I'm sorry?" Cao-Cao asked, scowling at the finality in that word. Sometimes when Ophis spoke it was like you were a child being dismissed by an adult. It was infuriating to Cao-Cao, the wielder of the Strongest Longinus and the reincarnation of one of the greatest generals to ever live.

"You do not understand the power of those things," She sighed shaking her head. "When it comes to it, I will probably have to be the one to suppress them. Or perhaps Vali and two of our other strongest members, like yourself."

"…If you think that's best," Cao-Cao said, internally rejoicing as suddenly things turned back the way he wanted them to. "Could this be a chance to kill two birds with one stone? Or rather three's birds with one stone, considering that I mean to feed the other 'teams' into that meatgrinder before jeopardizing my own?

"Regardless, stopping these talks from occurring is becoming more necessary since they have begun to reach out to other mystical societies. The Buddhists are apparently sending someone as their representative to it, as well as another faction called the Asgardians. My agents haven't been able to find much about them, only that they are weaker than the Buddhist/Hinduist societies. Regardless, we must stop them from creating a united front, and if we can prove that one of the factions was behind the attack or at the least allowed us in, all their diplomatic efforts will be crippled." And in so doing I will sacrifice Vali and make life even worse for the Fallen Angels. Enough so that they might be too tempting a target for the Church, especially if my agents there can push for that outcome.

Ophis cocked her head, looking at him closely. "All of that is in keeping with your agenda," she said pointedly. "What about mine?"

"Hostages," Cao-Cao said simply. Her eyes narrowed, but she indicated with a flick of her finger that he should continue, and he smiled thinly. "There are a few among the Three Factions that are powerful enough to help us in our cause against Great Red but all of those have loved ones that we can take hostage while they are at those talks if we cannot strike at the few that will be there with them. If we can do that in secret, we can weld their power to our own in that future battle and can then move on to others."

Ophis nodded her head, her eyes shining with a bit of eagerness the no one ever saw unless they were talking about getting rid of Great Red, or sweets. "Two plans in one then. Excellent. Perhaps then we will have enough strength to face off against the Great Red."

"Perhaps," Cao-Cao cautioned. "But that attack will be a chancy thing even if everything goes well. I would prefer to make it more certain. To that end I…" he broke off, as the last person he wanted to see right now walked up towards them, his hands in his pockets, his silver eyes locked on Cao-Cao.

Ophis turned in that direction, nodding her head. "Vali, you have returned."

Vali nodded. "Sorry," he said roughly. "With everything that's happened, getting away from my foster-father is getting harder and harder."

"Understandable and unimportant for now," Ophis said with a chopping motion of one hand. "You have information?

"Information, and a few more possible recruits," Vali said with a nod, holding out a folder. "We'll have to go to them, a few of them are in America and South America, but I think their Sacred Gears make them kind of useful. The Fallen's Sacred Gear Sensor system that my foster father created is really amazing. Beyond that, I've found a few magical weapons I think that might be relics from extinct pantheons with some power left that weren't turned into Sacred Gears. What was this I heard about an all-out assault on Kuoh though?"

Cao-Cao made his sales pitch again, watching Vali closely. Unlike Ophis, Cao-Cao had more than a bit of respect for the brain behind the silver-haired youth's face, and the two of them had never gotten along. However despite that, as Ophis read through the folder that Vali had handed her, Vali simply nodded. "Good. I'll be part of that. I want to fight Potter and that kitten. Hopefully, by then she might actually be a challenge, even if she isn't fully bonded to the Boosted Gear."

Cao-Cao nodded. Then looked over the piece of paper that office Ophis was still reading. "Who did you find?"

"Three Sacred Gear users who have Anti-magic Sacred Gears. More importantly, Vali has found the location of objects which may or may not allow us to bring back Evil Dragons banished into dimensional pockets by the Hosts of Heaven during the Great War," Ophis replied, her eyes narrowing in cold calculation.

The folder that Vali had given her was composed of several profiles. The human profiles were composed of several dozen pictures of men and women, each of them with a bit of background that would have been typical of a police profile almost, save for the part of it which directly described the individual's Sacred Gear. Some of them were indeed Anti-Magic Sacred Gears, Sacred Gears which could counter magic, either a specific type or by creating an area in which magic would fail.

An interesting find, especially if they could counter warding schemes without the cancelation being detected. This was the kind of information that the Fallen Angels, thanks to Azazel's interest in Sacred Gears and his skill as a magi-technician, could routinely find before any of the others.

The placement of these people, in America and South America though would be an issue for the Fallen Angels, given the size and extreme paranoia of MACUSA. As she reflected on that, Ophis found her thoughts oddly paralleling Azazel's when he met with Lucifer: that European style wizards could have in impact out of all proportion to their magical strength thanks to the speed and utility of their spells.

Regardless, it wasn't the humans that had grabbed the majority of her attention. That fell to the various objects whose picture Vali had included because he thought they were weapons of various kinds. There were only three of them, and only one, a large, metal spear, would have normally been called a weapon.

The spear was stated to have been from an ancient statue of Poseidon, larger than a man was tall and that it had three heads like a pike, each of them different in shape. One was a straight, simple spearhead, another twined and doubles back on itself like a serpent's neck. The third was slightly curved away from the middle tine, the straight one, and was spiked every which way. Each head was also said, in the bit of information supplied by the copy of its museum placard, to be made of a different metal, iron, steel, and bronze.

The other two were simple, if very off pieces of art, according to the information about them. One was of an apple out of which a small tree grew, the apple made of gold, the tree of silver and emerald for the leaves and a vine moving up the trunk. The last was a statue, about the size of Ophis's own human form, in the shape of an odd creature that looked like a human merged with a dragon. It had the wings of a dragon and the neck and head of one, but the body of a human, covered in scales with talons instead of fingers. It was also incredibly ugly. Somehow the sculptor had worked in imperfections in its form, one leg longer than the other, a talon larger than it's fellows, the face of the dragon creature showing odd proportions.

The placards for them read that the apple piece had been found in a Zoroastrian temple excavated three months back in Iran, and then sent to one of Iran's best museums, though the importance of it was unknown. The ugly piece of statuary had been found, oddly enough, in the attic of a famous art collector who had recently died, leaving all his pieces to the Museum of Art in New York.

They were magical. The Fallen Angels had been able to determine that. They had no idea what that magic entailed, but they had actually moved in several teams to study each piece recently, and one team, in fact, was waiting for a proper time to remove the apple piece from the museum in Iran. But they couldn't move yet thanks to the local museum being very near a sanctified mosque, where Saracen Assassins were currently being trained.

Ophis, with her extra magical senses could tell what they were even through pictures like this. The power of the dragons they sealed, or somehow connected to the prisons of radiated to her. None of course were anywhere near her own level, but they were strong enough to challenge Vali. And they also radiated to Ophis a certain amount of what humans would call evil emotions: hate, rage, a desire for pain and conquest.

Vali blinked "Evil dragons? Really! Holy shit, I thought they were just ancient relics that could be used as weapons," He said excitedly, his wings appearing on his back as he activated Albion in delight at the thought of fighting the dragons within. Albion too was interested, remembering past battles with dragons that could be termed evil by humanity.

"Indeed," Ophis said with a nod. "They are all very powerful. Not up to my standards, but certainly enough to give us even more power for this attack of yours. And if the one connected to the apple jewelry piece is who I think it is, then we might not have as much trouble with the wards around Kuoh as I feared."

For a moment, the two men, or rather the one human and the Devil in Cao-Cao's opinion, watched as she frowned. Unbeknownst to them, the words of Harry Potter were still going through Ophis's head, how he thought she was simply a child, how she should have instead simply asked for aid rather than reached out to the darker aspects of Earth's mystical societies.

And yet, her response was still the same. "A Dragon does not ask aid," she hissed out, causing both of them to back away as she slowly started to release her aura. "It demands repayment for its investment."

And yet, as she turned away, the seeming girl child's pride was no defense against the whisper of her own mind a whisper that said 'What if he's right? What if, because of the means you chose, you have alienated those who could honestly have helped you? What if, for all that you have done and continue to do, you fail?'

Ignoring that voice, she almost glared at her two followers. "I will retrieve these pieces myself. Leave them to me. Take the newest recruits and get them assigned quarters and into teams. You will then conduct a series of wargames. Our recent setbacks in numbers have shown that the Khaos Brigade is lacking combat experience. We have a lot of combat junkies and many strong individuals, but we lack experience in working with others in teams and full-scale battles. You two will do something about that."

Both men nodded, turning to stare at one another as Ophis turned and left without another word. As Ophis disappeared down a tunnel, Vali stood forward, going chest to chest with the other man. Although Cao-Cao was taller, and the owner of the strongest Longinus in existence, he didn't doubt that the young man in front of him was his equal. So when Vali hissed "I don't know what you're up to, but if whatever it is stops me from having fun, I'm going to stomp all over you."

Cao-Cao smirked back. Vali didn't trust him, having somehow discerned the contempt and hidden hatred Cao-Cao had for nonhumans. Yet that understanding went both ways, and he knew how to, if not outright manipulate Vali, then at least aim him away from Cao-Cao himself. "What if I guaranteed you all the fun you could ever have?"

"Then it would depend on how many innocents you'll be burning to do it," Vali replied in a scoff.

Cao-Cao smirked. "Only one possible innocent will be harmed my schemes, and even then, only if you stretch the definition of the word innocent well past the breaking point."

Vali scowled staring into Cao-Cao's eyes, trying to figure out the meaning of those words, but his ability to read an opponent only helped so much here. Eventually, he stepped back, watching as Cao-Cao turned away. His eyes roamed across the new Sacred Gear users that Cao-Cao had brought in, a scowl forming in his face, before he turned, and marched away in turn. Cao-Cao's been adding to his own hero team, I need to add to team Vali quickly to match him. Whatever his plan is, I need to be strong enough to either stop it in its tracks or survive it if it looks like he told the truth there. We'll have to see.

He turned as a large group of seventy men and women of various ages but similar looks moved towards him through the larger receiving area. All of them were dressed in the formal crested kimono for the men, and Taoist robes for the women. "Ah, at last. I've been hoping you could sneak away from those searching for you and your clan Shinra Oda-san…"

OOOOOOO

"So where are you taking us, Harry?" Yasaka asked as she looked at her lover quizzically. Today, the weekend after the battle against Kokabiel was the first day that the two of them had been able to get together for a full-day type date. And as parents, they, of course, had immediately turned around and made that a day out with the kids, or at least the youngest two. Koneko and Asia were apparently having a day out together and Teddy was heading out on a shopping trip with Tonks, having been bribed into it by the Metamorph.

As an apology for it taking so long for them to have a date like this, Harry had told Yasaka to leave the planning of it all to him. Oh, they'd had a few dates here and there, mostly in Kyoto, thanks to Yasaka's issues with being away from the Dragon Nest underneath that city. Those had been nice, but short, even if they had ended with Harry occasionally sleeping over with her, which had never gone beyond third base, although they reached that point practically every time. They had never had a date to make the event special enough to go past that point.

Yasaka had never really taken that lack of attention personally. She was a leader too, and that was a full twenty-four-hour job, something she was certain Harry would realize soon enough. Although she thought looking at him now as he pulled out his motorcycle and enlarged it back to its normal size slowly, I bet he will rebel against it more than I ever have been able to. And more successfully too, given he was a parent first before becoming a leader, whereas for me it was the other way around.

"You'll see," Harry said with a smile, gesturing her to the back of his motorcycle as he held out a helmet. The diminutive woman, who was clad in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt as Harry had requested, climbed on behind him, as Kunou and Lily hopped into the sidecar Harry had added to the motorbike, sharing the seat and buckling up as they cuddled.

The two of them had no idea out where they were going either, Yasaka having questioned Kunou about it, but they both trusted Harry to have discovered something fun for them to do. She, on the other hand, had issues with being kept in the dark, especially since she could sense Harry's amusement and anticipation of her reaction. Oh, she trusted Harry, so much that it oftentimes worried her given they hadn't known each other more than half a year by this point. But she was a Kitsune, and she very much preferred to be the one playing the prank rather than being the butt of it.

Still, when it comes to those I love I can do that too, she thought, purring gently as one of Harry's hands reached down to where her arms had gone around his waist. His thumb caressed the back of her clasped hands lightly before returning to the handles of his motorbike, revving it into life.

Within a few minutes, they were in the air, flying out from Kyoto up north through the airspace over the Kansai region covered by a powerful Notice Me Not spell that was tied into the motorbike itself. "Are we going to fly all the way there? "Yasaka asked into Harry's ear. "I don't think that my issue with being away from the Dragon Nest will be made any easier by not removing myself so violently as I would during a teleportation."

"While that's worth an experiment," Harry shouted back, his own voice almost lost in the wind of their passage. "We're going to be going quite a bit faster soon enough. I just want to get us away from the city before activating the turbo on this bad boy. As for your problems with being away, I already prepared a portkey back to your mansion, so when you're starting to feel bad though, you can return instantly."

Yasaka scowled. "Portkeys are all right I suppose, although they're not a candle to what Rias can do."

"Her ability with teleportation is leagues away from mine, I know," Harry shrugged. "But this is the best I can do since I put most of this together last night."

Whatever Yasaka would have said to that was blown away in the wind as Harry became satisfied by the lack of air traffic around them. He activated the booster than for some reason shouted: "Warp drive engage, Ludicrous speed!" That and his mad cackle was the last thing Yasaka heard for a time as the bike moved so fast it almost broke the sound barrier.

Yasaka grimaced slightly as the tugging feeling she always felt away from Kyoto began, but it grew gradually, with none of the sudden lurch she initially felt when going through the teleportation tunnel between Kyoto and Kuoh. It built though and continued to do so as they traveled, but she could deal with it. Still, she found herself grateful an hour and a bit later when they slowed to a stop. So long as we don't move any further away, I think I can deal with this, for a time anyway.

Harry slowed the bike back down to normal flying speed and then pointed them downward. They descended in a spiral as Harry tried to pick out a place for them to put down, the two girls chattering excitedly to one another, as his daughter said, "I wonder if I can bring along Titan the next time we go flying like this."

"He might like it, Lily, although seeing as I'm going to start training you on brooms this summer, maybe you should wait to fly with him then."

"What!?" Three female voices said as one, one incredulous, one wondering, and one delighted.

Harry laughed. "I remember my godfather telling me stories about how he and my father had me up on my first broom before I could barely walk. I decided to wait a few years, but Lily has been on a broomstick before haven't you lovey?" He teased.

Lily huffed but nodded. She had indeed been on a broomstick several times over the years, but she hadn't been trained on one. She had stolen one a few times, crashing more than a few times, and once been taken up on one by her father. That was obviously, not the same thing as getting training on them.

"Of course," Harry went on, looking over his shoulder to exchange a wink with Yasaka "Whether or not you continue to get training on a broom is going to depend upon your keeping your grades up."

As Lily pouted at that caveat Kunou blinked raising a hand even though Harry couldn't turn his head to see her at the moment. "Does that mean that I could earn some broom riding lessons too?"

"That's up to your mother," Harry said diplomatically and Yasaka huffed.

"It would have been if you hadn't painted me into a corner," she whispered to him harshly, leaning forward and pulling one arm away from around his waist to peel the back of his leather jacket away from his neck. Leaning up she nipped at the exposed skin, a little harder than could be called affectionate, leaving a mark there, though it barely lasted long enough to be called that.

He growled at that, a sound that sent shivers down Yasaka's body, the very, very good kind of shiver. That's it, old girl, I think we've danced around long enough. We've been dating long enough, propriety, whatever the heck that means in this instance, has been observed. Time to get me a full helping of werewolf tonight!

However, she set those thoughts aside with all the ease of an experienced mother, reaching over to pat her daughter's helmet-clad head, both kids wearing helmets as the two adults were. "I believe, that is most certainly a possibility, with the same caveat as Harry gave Lily, okay?"

"Yep," Kunou said with a laugh throwing her arms up. Given Lily's issues with sitting down for long, Kunou, despite having less of a starting point had quickly caught up to Lily grade-wise. She struggled with history at times, and her writing was more in keeping with their age's normal skill level than Lily's but she still did as well in class.

By that time, they had once more leveled over a patch of road and Harry waited for a brief second until they were alone on the road going around a corner, and then flicked the control on the panel in front of him, which, though it looked like that of a regular motorbike's, was very much not. The next instant, they were visible to other people and merged into traffic on another road following it for several miles.

At that point, Harry asked Yasaka how she was feeling, and she frowned. "I'm feeling okay," she said slowly. "This has not been as distressing as the initial impact when I teleport into Kuoh, but I can feel the rubber band feeling growing with every yard we're moving away from Kyoto, so I think it kind of evens out really. I… think I might have about thirty more minutes or so before it gets to be too much, so while the transportation times added up to more, it really doesn't help much."

Harry sighed. "Well, there goes that experiment. But that wasn't why I wanted to come here anyway, I just think you're going to have a lot of fun here," He said as they left a small town behind, and moved up into the mountains behind it.

Yasaka blinked, looking at a sign that they just passed, then blinked again a few seconds later as she saw another. "'Fox Village'?" she asked incredulously. "What is this about?"

"You'll see," Harry said, as Kunou perked up along with Lily.

A few minutes later they were parking in front of what looked like a regular zoo or park, except that through the trees, Yasaka could make out tiny houses. Harry went and paid for them all then came back and took Yasaka's hand in his leading the way past an outer metal fence and into the forest beyond.

Harry smiled as all three of the others sniffed the air, and Yasaka and Kunou said as one "It smells of Foxes," with the mother of the pair "going on lots of foxes. What exactly is…?"

She broke off as their walk took them into a tiny play-town. There were little child-sized houses built here and there, little tunnels, little balancing beams scattered all over the floor of the forest. And as they came closer, the noise of foxes came to them. Harry saw the faces of Kunou and Yasaka light up in delight, followed a second later by his daughter's as they saw the sheer number of foxes around them. Some of them came out of the houses, some of them were playing around on the ground, all of them were yapping and making noises, and Kunou squealed in delight, looked over at Harry, who nodded, winking.

She gleefully ran forwards, and between one step and the next started to change, her tails coming out, her ears popping up out of her head as she assumed her natural Kitsune form. The foxes had already figured out what she was, but unlike with wolves and werewolves, foxes and Kitsune actually got along quite well, and several foxes ran to meet her as Kunou went down on all fours, yipping at them excitedly.

On her heels Lily raced forward too then paused, wondering how she would be received. But Harry came up behind her and put a hand on her back gently pushing her forward. "Go on lovey, I was here last night to make certain that this would work, and they didn't seem to care about my odd smell, so they sure as heck won't care about yours."

She beamed at him, and then transformed into her werewolf form, racing forward to join her best friend, trusting in her father to cover them both with illusion magic to hide their forms. He had already done so though back in Kyoto when he handed them their helmets, and the spells were still on them now.

Yasaka also swiftly shifted forms but she instead of changing into her Kitsune form shifted entirely into a fox form, racing forward with a loud yelp, as she dove through one house, then balanced on a beam before leaping up onto the next. Her tails, all nine of them, waved gleefully behind her, and the foxes all yelped in welcome.

"Well," Harry said as he strolled after the kids, keeping his own human form for now, "I think I can put this down as a success."

Hours later, the two girls were pouring over a brochure of the Fox Village as Harry explained how he'd found it to Yasaka. The four of them were sitting in a booth at a family restaurant in Kyoto. The restaurant advertised itself as being one which sold traditional American food, but Harry had looked at their lineup and thought of it more as traditional American fast food than anything else. Hamburgers, however, were always good. And the two kids had worked up quite an appetite racing around with the foxes for most of the evening and afternoon.

"Husukai has a nonmagical cousin who works there. Apparently part of what keeps the foxes somewhat docile is magical in nature. It was supposed to be for more magical species, as well, but the funding to gather and transport those species to the area fell through on the Onmyodo side. The non-magicals though continued the work on it and eventually opened it last summer."

He watched Yasaka nod and asked solicitously, "How are you doing?" She had been forced to take his portkey back to Kyoto barely thirty minutes into the time in the Fox village, which was in Miyagi Prefecture. But even with several hours to recover she still looked a little worn to him.

"I am alright, although it was rather more debilitating than I thought. I collapsed after returning here for a time, but I'm on the mend now and should be fine after I get some food into my currently empty stomach," Yasaka said, obliquely telling Harry she had thrown up upon returning to Kyoto. It says something that I'm getting used to that kind of thing and still think this long-distance relationship more than worth the price.

Harry nodded, leaning in and kissing the top of her head tenderly. "Still, did you have fun for the little time you're there?"

"Oh yes," Yasaka replied with a chittering laugh that hearkened back to her natural Kitsune body despite the fact that she was in her fully human form of the moment. Yasaka was attractive in either form and the family of four had garnered some interested looks from both sexes, although those looks dissipated as the watchers slowly noticed the kids, far too slowly for Harry's state of mind. But he couldn't deny that Yasaka was so pretty it was hard not to stare.

The only way I would give Rias a leg up over her is height and red hair he thought with a chuckle. When Yasaka looked at him quizzically, he realized he said that aloud, and she pouted up at him, before sending him a lascivious little smirk. "Well, short people can be a fun~ too," she said, licking her lips. "I'll show you how tonight if you're lucky."

"I'm looking forward to it," Harry said with a laugh and a certain look in his eyes that caused Yasaka once more to shiver in delight. Putting an arm around her shoulders Harry turned to watch the two kids talking happily about what they'd been doing, his eyes softening at the sight. "You raised a magnificent daughter there you know."

"And you raised one yourself," she replied, knowing that the words meant far more than was obvious to anyone else.

They fell silent for a time simply hugging one another, then the food arrived, and the two ravenous monsters across the table went to work quickly.

The two adults continued to talk about current events, about information that Yasaka had garnered about the Khaos Brigade, and other events occurring on the mystical side of the world as well as the fact that Harry had indeed decided to go after Bikou when he returned to China for the ceremony on Mount would take Kiba, Loup, Issei, and Sairaorg Bael. Rias had passed on the idea of taking out one of the stronger members of the Khaos Brigade to him on the down-low, since no one was quite certain how much penetration the Khaos Brigade had on the devil side of things but they knew it had to be quite a lot even now with the Devils having attempted to purge that influence.

He had agreed, rather eagerly it must be said. "Apparently after hearing about the campaign we ran against Kokabiel and his legion, the idea of taking part in 'mere' Rating Games just doesn't do it for Sairaorg anymore," Harry said to Yasaka now rather dryly.

"Combat junkies," Yasaka said with a laugh. Then she looked at Harry quizzically. "The idea doesn't get you interested?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not a combat junkie. I suppose I could be called an adrenaline junkie, and I certainly was an even bigger one in my younger years. But I'm not a combat junkie, I'm a soldier. I do the job, I go home. But if you're asking if I enjoy fighting, occasionally? The fight against Kokabiel and the fallen was just something we had to do. The fight against the skeletons was kind of fun though."

"Hehe, a dog fighting a mass of bones," Yasaka said with a chuckle.

Harry mock-glared at her, the arm around her shoulders shifting to poke her in the ribs. "I've heard that one before, thank you."

She shrugged unrepentantly, and Harry moved on quickly. "Anyway, no, the idea of a fight like that doesn't interest me as much as the idea of weakening the Khaos Brigade by removing one of their top agents."

Harry smiled at her, shaking his head. "But enough about that kind of thing. Is there anything new going on in the Youkai Association?"

"Quite a bit, but one thing will probably interest you more than the rest. I've gotten requests from ten different families and several single men and women that want to move to Kuoh. Your idea of a magic school has garnered a lot of interest among my folk," Yasaka replied. Her tone was airy, but the words were serious, and she went on has Harry nodded.

"I've even gotten a few teachers that might want to work with you. I'm not actually certain if you were introduced to one, He's my Runemaster, and he hails from India an ancient Elephant Youkai named Dutugamunu. He is rather acerbic, and not exactly good with working others, but he seems quite taken with young Asia. She apparently healed his arthritis for him that day after we signed the original alliance treaty."

"That sounds like her," Harry said with a smile as he thought about his blood-adopted daughter, who was currently out with Koneko, his other sort-of-daughter. The two of them were apparently planning to see an anime movie of some kind, one that Rias was also interested in and would be taking the kids to. Actually, Rias should be here soon to pick up the kids for the night I think. After that well … we shall see.

As they were finishing dinner, Rias, Asia, and Koneko did arrive, entering the restaurant after spotting the foursome from outside.

Lily and Kunou perked up, waving their hands excitedly, and the other girls moved over to them, with Asia and Koneko sliding into the booth with the kids for a moment, as Rias smiled at Yasaka and Harry. "So how did it go?"

"I take it you knew about this Fox Village he was going to take us to?" Rias nodded, and Yasaka huffed in annoyance. As a Kitsune capitalized here? being out of the loop on a prank, even a minor one like this, was annoying to her sense of pride. "Well, it was certainly a nice surprise. Seeing all those foxes play around was hilarious, especially when that one male fox began to bite at Kunou's tails.

Her daughter whimpered. "That was the one part I didn't like," she muttered. "Mean bull fox."

Lily chuckled evilly. "Yeah, but it didn't go on for very long did it?" She had chased him off, since even though she was quite young, as a werewolf Lily was far stronger than any natural fox could ever be, and though ungainly in her werewolf form, also quite quick. The bull fox had only nipped at her tail a few times as Kunou was stuck in one of the tubes, then Lily had battered him aside with a single paw, then chased him through the woods until she had forced him to hide in one of the little houses she couldn't fit into.

"That's good," Rias said with a smile, looking down the kids. "And are you looking forward to the movie?" All four of the younger girls nodded and she looked down at her watch. "In that case, how about we grab an ice cream to go, and then we'll have some popcorn we get there. When watching a movie, popcorn is essential." She said with a pair of a connoisseur.

Harry chuckled at that, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. "I'd say thank you for watching them for us, except I think that you're going to get as much of a kick out of this movie as they are. Just try not to critique the styles or the voice acting until afterward, okay?" They'd been to a few movies together and that had been a problem before.

"I promise, although you're infringing on my rights as an otaku you know," Rias huffed before grinning back at him.

She then reached down, and helped Lily and Kunou out of the bank booth after Asia and Koneko, hugging the smaller redhead to her as she whispered "So, you chased away the big bad fox from your friend huh? Good for you!" which brought a grin to Lily's face. Rias then took one tiny hand in each of hers and nodded her head to the couple still sitting in the booth. "We'll see you all at home Harry, and Yasaka," she added with a wink, "have fun."

"I intend to," Yasaka quipped back, grinning herself now.

Harry chuckled, and as the kids left with Rias, raised a hand asking for the waitress to bring their check.

The two of them moved the date to a local bar where they danced for several hours. It was not the same one that he and Rias had gone to on their date here in Kyoto that night of the treaty signing. But another one that was a pure dance hall that didn't offer food. It was of more reminiscent of a place that he and Kala had gone to then anyplace he had taken Rias, techno-pop and heavy metal comprising the background music rather than anime songs or jazz.

Despite that difference, Yasaka still had fun, although she did profess that she preferred smooth American-style jazz to anything like this. "I don't know what it is; I think it's the saxophone noise that I really like."

"I'll remember that for the next time," Harry said as they exited the club. It was about an hour before closing time. The kids would be at home, all tucked into bed by Rias and the others, but to the two of them, the night could still be young, if Yasaka wanted it. With that in mind, Harry leaned down, using one finger to push Yasaka's chin up so that he could kiss her on her lips.

The shorter blonde woman clung to him, practically climbing up his front in order to kiss him harder. Her mouth opened and her tongue slid along his own for a brief second before Harry replied, his own tongue out and questing, pressing Yasaka's back into her mouth where they began to dance and swirl around one another. After several minutes of this Harry pulled back slowly, looking down at her, his lips quirking into a brief smile. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"Follow me," she said, a positively vulpine smile on her face as she pulled away tugging at his hand.

The two of them walked through the streets of Kyoto, ignoring the world around them as they moved through the darkened streets lit by the overhead lamps. They weren't the only couple out, although it certainly seemed that way for a bit when they entered the Youkai Association area of the city, with its old-fashioned architecture, and which had much less lighting.

But still, they kept on moving slowly, stopping to snog occasionally as they went. One time Harry lost control a bit and lifted Yasaka up in his arms, her legs wrapping around his upper chest as he pressed her up against the wall, to lean up and kiss her hard, their tongues out and questing as one hand snaked between them, to play with her breasts.

"You see," she moaned, "being little does have its advantages, doesn't it?"

"It would," Harry said between kisses, "If I couldn't do the same thing with Rias even with her height. Although, given how often you've mentioned our size differences, I have to wonder if you like being manhandled like this? Just asking to be would be a better idea than beating around the bush you know."

"Bah, that takes all the mystery out of it." Yasaka pouted, before nipping at his lower lip. She then pulled back, wiggling out of his grip and taking his hand with hers again, their fingers clasping around one another. "Come on. I have something special planned for tonight. Our first night as it were."

Harry felt as if his smile would split his face open at that, knowing what she meant. The two of them had dates, had even made out as ardently as they currently were, and had repeatedly 'exchanged favors' as Yasaka had done to Harry after he had woken up from his magical exhaustion induced unconsciousness. But they had never gone all the way and Yasaka's words implied that tonight they would be.

But Harry was in for surprise because Yasaka refused his offer to teleport them ahead to her castle. Instead, she kept on pulling him along, until they were in the area of the Kyoto forest run by the Youkai Association. There, she sniffed the air for a long time, and then asked, "Can you smell anyone else out and about?" I asked for everyone to keep to their own territories tonight, wording it as if the wards were going to be tested tonight although I'm not certain my advisors were really fooled by that… Still, I hope they listened.

Harry sniffed first a few minutes himself then replied in the negative.

"Good," Yasaka said before slowly peeling out of her dress, which she had changed into before the two of them had gone out to dance after Rias had taken the kids. She pulled the straps off of her shoulders, and let the white and gold dress slink down her body to pool at her feet. She kicked it up into the air where she grabbed it, a move that she giggled at before the dress disappeared from her hand, and Harry gulped behind her, seeing Yasaka in all her glory once again. No matter how often he saw her naked, it was always an awe-inspiring sight.

{Lemon Start}

Her skin with its porcelain color always looked so delicate, a concept proven false by the scar she wore here and there, on her arms and elsewhere. Her breasts, though an inch smaller if that than Rias's still looked massive on her smaller frame, and were tipped by dark red nipples. As she turned on her lithe, well-formed legs her rear was revealed, a magnificent example of the type, small but extremely pert and Harry knew soft to the touch.

Swishing her rear in his direction, Yasaka looked over one shoulder at Harry as her hands stroked down her sides, then her thumbs hooked into the sides of her panties which she slowly, agonizingly pushed down her legs. Even with only the light of the moon above, Harry could make out the glisten of reflected light on the wet dampness on her revealed slit, which he knew to be almost startlingly pink against the porcelain of her skin and trailing down her legs.

Then as she was still bending over, her hands moved back up her body to the small of her back where she undid her bra. Pulling it off in turn, she held it out to the side her head turned to look at him over one shoulder. "You're a little too dressed Harry," she quipped, still holding that pose.

Harry doubted he had ever gotten undressed faster than he did just then without the use of magic, but he was in for a further shock as he finished. Instead of simply beckoning him to her for a bit of outdoor fun right where they were, Yasaka finished dropping her bra to one side as he kicked his pants away. She then turned, swiveling on one foot like a ballerina in place several times before slowly changing into her Kitsune appearance. When she was done, her tails slowly dipped out of the way one after another. As they did Harry caught a glimpse of where her tails merged into one directly above her rear. From her head two long foxlike ears popped out, twitching this way and that.

"Flipping heck, you are so gorgeous, no wonder people used to worship Kitsune as goddesses," he said slowly.

Yasaka laughed a throaty, animalistic thing that was both wild and sexy at the same time. "You're sweet Harry. But I think I've had enough of 'sweet Harry' for now. I want wolfy Harry for the rest of the night," she said, her fox eyes going half-lidded as she smirked at him. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"I think I do," Harry said, his own lurking smirk a reply in and of itself since he knew how much Yasaka had come to enjoy his werewolf form. Indeed, several times she had requested a repeat of their time together after the Rating Game against Riser. With a thought, his body started to shift. His rose by three inches as his shoulders shifted outward. His cock grew too, adding a bit under two inches to its length while it thickened as well, its shape changing to look more like the point of a dog's penis than a human cock.

But to his surprise, Yasaka hadn't stuck around to watch him change as she always had before. Instead, she had turned away and as his transformation finished she was already a hundred yards distant, racing off through the woodlands on all fours. "Catch me if you can!"

Harry rumbled deep in pleasure. So the foxy girl really wanted to play fox and hound, did she? Well, while Harry hadn't done this before, his werewolf instincts certainly knew what to do. Especially with her scent on the wind, holy hell has she ever been this turned on before? Well, far be it from me to not give the lady what she wants. With a literally wolfish smile and a baying howl, he was off streaking after her through the woods.

How long the chase went Harry couldn't tell but eventually, his greater speed was enough to close the distance on Yasaka despite her knowledge of the terrain. With a mock yelp of fear, she looked over her shoulder, just as Harry launched himself forward. But then she dodged at the last minute, and the chase resumed.

Eventually, he caught her, baring her to earth with her his greater weight, panting as he lay on top of her, her tails between them and around him, each of them twitching and moving. "That was fun," he whispered into her ear, biting at it lightly.

Taking a brief moment to look around, Harry realized they were near the stream where the Swanhilde lived. Luckily they were downstream quite a ways, so none of the swan-women were around. They were in a tiny clearing the stream bubbling along in front of them, with several ancient sakura and oak trees around them, the ground littered with their leaves.

Then Yasaka moaned under him, humping back against her, putting her legs out to either side to further stabilize her and capturing his attention like a giant magnet while her tails parted, allowing Harry's crotch to bump against her rear. As she felt his hardening length press against her quivering mound she moaned out, "The fun is just beginning."

At those words Harry leaned in kissing her ardently, their mouths working against one another, their tongues, longer and coarser than in their human forms, twining around one another like snakes. Pulling back Yasaka hissed, "No foreplay! I'm so drenched I resemble more of a waterfall than anything else! In, now!" She howled at the moon above.

Ignoring her words Harry pulled his hips back to tease her for a few seconds with the more pointed tip of his cock moving up and down her tiny slit. Seeing the difference in size even by the moon above he was honestly worried for a brief, lucid moment that he wouldn't be able to fit. Or worse, I might hurt her if I'm not careful.

But then she turned her head and bit at his throat lightly with her teeth. In Kitsune form, her jaw was subtly different from a human woman's and her teeth were more pointed. They actually drew a tiny bit of blood as she nipped at his. "Don't even think about going slow Harry! There's a time for that, and this isn't it! We can make tender love later. Right now, I want you to screw me into the freaking ground!"

With that, his concerns about her being able to take him went away as he went back to teasing her. Pulling his head back, Harry then dove down to nip and bite at her own neck, working over the fur-covered back of her neck in particular.

He kept his cock moving up and down her slit whatever she tried to do, dominating her, controlling her movements. He did this until Yasaka could no longer form a coherent word, her mouth open in a near-constant moan interspersed with little yips as Harry bit at her neck. And then he thrust forward all at once, hilting himself inside her with a single thrust as she had demanded.

Yasaka's eyes widened in shock and pure bliss and she howled in delight, her hands clawing at the ground underneath her as she was pushed flat against the ground. She could almost feel her insides spasming as Harry's cock invaded her pussy, touching places even her late husband had never reached. She could barely react as Harry pulled her head around once more to kiss her, her lips barely moving, her tongue unresponsive as she let loose a continuous low moan.

That moan became a whimper as Harry slowly pulled back out, his pointed tip dragging along her insides. "Noooo," she whimpered and then yelped as he thrust in again, slower this time. He continued to modulate his thrusts, pulling out a few inches then thrusting back in quickly, or nearly pulling out entirely then slowly working himself back in.

The noises this evoked from the kitsune could not truly be called human, but then again Harry had left words behind too, simply growling, huffing or yipping as he proceeded to dominate Yasaka in exactly the way she had desired for months. It had taken time, first to get Harry used to the idea of polygamy, and then to be more willing to follow his desires, while also integrating his werewolf side into their love-making. Now however it was paying off handsomely and Yasaka howled her way through one orgasm, then a second as Harry continued to rut into her from behind.

It only got better as he reached under her. His larger, fur-covered hands clasped her breasts and kneading them like they were dough, began to use them as handles while his hips continued to move slowly, then faster and faster. He also started to play with her nipples, something that caused her to howl in delight almost as loud as she had when Harry had first begun to piston in and out of her.

For Harry, the experience was something else. Yasaka was almost painfully tight thanks to their difference in size, though thankfully she wasn't nearly as volcanically hot as Rias. But nor did Rias always squirt when she came. Yasaka was literally dripping a river by this point, and her pussy was feeling better and better as it slowly acclimatized to his size.

But Yasaka wasn't the only one who had been worked into a frenzy despite his greater self-control. The snogging sessions, her grinding against him, the sheer sight of the foxy woman had been pushing him into a frenzy, and now his self-control finally started to fade, his attempts to use different speeds and strokes failing as he began to just thrust into her as fast as he could.

"YEEEESSSSS!" Yasaka screamed, having finally gotten used to Harry's pounding enough to try and take part, thrusting herself back into him. She tried to twist around and kiss him, but Harry wasn't having any of that. Instead, he pulled back and bit the back of her neck, just hard enough to leave a mark, his werewolf form's teeth just grazing her skin as he sucked at her neck.

That did it, and she clamped down in her biggest orgasm to dates as her tails, which had been twisting to either side of her rears, flew into the air and around Harry. As her pussy clamped down around him nearly hard enough to be painful her tails wrapped around him, holding him in place. This and the sheer pressure around his shaft pushed Harry over the edge and he howled as he hilted himself in Yasaka as deep as he could as cum erupted from his cock flooding her insides.

Harry's legs threatened to collapse, but he held himself up off of Yasaka with one arm. The other shifted to pull her against him holding her upright, as he leaned around to kiss her again.

"Mmm…" Yasaka mumbled against his lips, and then slowly scooted forward, her tails falling from where they had held Harry. She then turned around and, with her tails flattening out under her, sat on her rear, her legs spread. She looked down in something like bemused shock at the amount of mixed juices that were flowing out of her, a flash of delight in her eyes. But when she looked up at Harry, her eyes were still practically blazing with need, a need that grew as she saw that Harry's length hadn't flagged. "More?" she practically begged, one hand moving up behind his head and pulling him down on top of her, yipping in delight as Harry's long, werewolf tongue started to flick over her nipple as he pressed his shaft into her once more.

{End Lemon}

OOOOOOO

The next morning, Harry was back home before the sun rose to make breakfast with Kala, flirting with her as the two of them wound around one another, his hands falling to her hips or trailing her side as she returned the favor. Kunou, Koneko, and Teddy were nearby finishing a fun bit of homework that they had been given over the weekend. Looking over the multi-colored map Kunou was working on and the storybook Teddy had created Harry felt it was evidence that perhaps the Japanese teachers at the elementary level did, in fact, understand that too much testing wasn't exactly a good thing, something he was very happy to see.

Rias came in just in time to hear Kala mention that the cooking competition she had wanted to take part in had been postponed until the start of March, but that she was happy enough about it. "This way, I get you all to myself for a weekend before you hare off to Jolly Ol' England."

"Heh, well, me, Lily and Koneko anyway," Harry quipped, before turning to look at the newcomers.

Rias's hair was still wet from a shower and she was washing Lily's hair with a large white towel as the younger redhead walked in front of her. But she paused in the doorway though looking at Harry quizzically. "Funny, I thought you'd still be with Yasaka."

Harry shook his head. "No, I have group projects due today in Koneko's class, and I want to get over there and set up the room first." Koneko nodded, from where she was helping Kunou color in a bit of a map of Japan. Lily moved over to them, and Rias moved to help with breakfast, as Harry continued to speak. "After that, I want to head out and talk to Tiamat. I have a few things to say to her I doubt she's going to want to hear."

Rias looked at him, and he winked at her. Causing the redhead to nod, indicating she knew what that conversation was going to be about. Tiamat might be incredibly powerful, but she is far too disconnected from the rest of us, she needs to start taking part in our lives here in some fashion. Especially going forward.

After breakfast, Rias decided to see how Yasaka felt the date had gone. She appeared in Kyoto in Yasaka's palace, coming out of the teleportation tunnel in the main hall of the palace before making her way to Yasaka's room. Halfway there she stopped as she spotted one of the swanhilde in the hallway leading to Yasaka's chambers. It was highly unusual to see one of the swan-women inside, and this one was looking both annoyed and affronted.

The sight was so unusual she stopped and asked, "Miss, is everything all right?"

The swanhilde turned, showing a face that even Rias had to admit was attractive, in keeping with the legend about them. The agitated look on her face, and the bags under her eyes though, took away from the other woman's appearance. "Oh, Gremory-sama, um, I was here to talk to, or really more complain at Yasaka oujosama really."

"About what?" Rias asked, thinking that if Yasaka was anything like her after her first night with Harry the last thing she would want to do today is deal with any official business. "Is it something I can help with?"

"Um…" the swanhilde, a woman, Rias suddenly realized, who looked to be younger than her, blushed rosily, visible on her very fair skin, almost as fair as Rias's own. "Um, could, um, that is, could you, when she and um, Po, Potter-sama have relations again, they, they keep it inside? Or at le, least away from our territory." By this point the poor girl was covering her head with her large, white swan wings and as if steam should by all rights start coming out of her ears.

"Ah," Rias said, holding back a guffaw of laughter with all the self-control of her noble upbringing. "I will most definitely remonstrate with them both, and I'm sorry you had to go through that experience."

"Th, thank you. It was so embarrassing!" the swanhilde grumbled, letting her wings fall and still looking a little embarrassed. "The older women made it even worse of course, making ribald comments every time we, we heard them, but even they thought it was a bit much after the two of them started up a third time. Not," she added hastily, "We don't understand why Yasaka-oujousama's was so enthusiastic. Heats are bad like that regardless of your position, and I hope she and Harry are blessed."

Rias's face froze in her polite noblewoman's face, but she still nodded at the other woman. "Oh, I think you might have to wait to congratulate them on that score. But nonetheless, they should have been more respectful. I'll tell Yasaka you complained, and you won't have to have this conversation again alright? Go get some sleep."

Not realizing the proverbial landmine she had stepped on, the teen swan-woman nodded and hurried past Rias, her white wings brushing against the Devil woman who moved to the door leading into Yasaka's bedroom. When she opened the door, Rias rolled her eyes at the earthy, heady smell coming out of it. Huh, I guess they continued their activities after they returned here.

Moving quickly through the room, she opened every window she could, airing it, ignoring the whimpers from the bed as she had been forced to pull back the blinds to do so. Indeed, she took a rather vindictive bit of pleasure from it.

Only when all the windows were open did Rias move to the bed. "Yasaka, are you all right?"

"You, you are an evil woman," said the mound from the bed. "You, you created a freaking monster!"

"Huh?" Rias blinked at that, her thoughts side-tracked. "What do you mean?"

Yasaka poked her head out from the bundle of blankets on the bed, glaring at Rias. Her hair was disheveled, her lips were bruised, there were hickeys all over her neck and she was still very naked, what little of her chest was visible in the blanket looking like it was still sweaty. "Don't pretend you don't know!"

"I swear I don't have any idea what you're talking about," Rias said shaking her head and ignoring the desire to see where that sweat trail falling down Yasaka's chest led. "If Harry wore you out, that's nothing to do with me. He routinely did that when he and I got together at first to me too."

"Oh really? There's a difference between him wearing me out, and him literally dominating me three of the five rounds we went through the damn night! Woman my I hips I can't feel my hips… or anything else below my navel! My legs and everything else are just a pile of tingles. And he was still good to go when I finally fell asleep. No, not sleep, I just collapsed… I honestly have no idea how I got back to my room come to think of it."

"Hmmf, I would think that you'd be alright with that given your plan," Rias said, remembering she was supposed to be angry with the other woman.

"What do you mean?" Yasaka said, suddenly looking shifty, refusing to meet Rias's eyes.

"I mean the fact you're in heat! One of the swanhilde was here to complain about your night's activities occurring too close to their territory, and let slip that you are in heat around this time of the month, or however long your cycles last." Rias growled, her fingers twitching. "I thought we had an agreement."

"No, you said you would be the first of us to get pregnant then Lily and Kunou interrupted our argument," Yasaka said, shaking her head and wincing, flopping back onto the bed. "Ooh, I'm too tired to even argue. I would apologize, but you yourself have said you have to wait until you graduate high school at the very least."

"Ugh," Rias grunted as that shot hit home. Not that most would understand why she would even be thinking about a child even then, as young as she was. But Rias had no desire or need to go to college, and regardless of the fact they'd been going out only for four months by this point, she and Harry were married magically speaking. On top of wanting to have a formal wedding at some point, they were both also wishful to have more children, regardless of Harry's relationship with Koneko and Asia, and even Kunou. "Well I hate to tell you, but Harry cast that Blueballs spell of his before coming to Kyoto."

Yasaka tsked, but then sighed. "I suppose that is fine really. After all, I haven't mentioned kids with Harry before this either."

"Yes, well, I have. We've decided no more kids until after Ophis and the Khaos Brigade are no longer a threat. Them, and whatever that Death God who sent those skeletons too," Rias sighed, shaking her head. "I'd like to not wait longer than that though; we don't want too many years between Lily and Kunou and their younger siblings.

"I… suppose I did jump the gun then," Yasaka said with some chagrin, bowing her head towards Rias. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. It's not like I can't understand where you're coming from anyway," Rias chuckled wanly, sitting down on the bed and gently pushing Yasaka's hair out of the way, to kiss her still sweat-streaked forehead. "I'll get some cloth and clean you up a bit I think, and then take you to your bath. I'll at least have time to set you in it before I have to get to school." She then smirked wickedly. "And I suppose I could take some of the blame for Harry's assuming you could handle his endurance. He is after all used to sleeping with a Devil."

At an interrogative noise from Yasaka, Rias explained. "Devils and Fallen like Kala, who Fell to the Sin of Lust, can gain a bit of power by giving into Sins, or in the case of Kala, the particular Sin. And lust is, after all, a part of love, so my body can be sustained through lovemaking rather than eventually exhaust itself. Indeed, Harry and I recently discovered we could both sustain ourselves through a night of lovemaking just as well as through a good night's sleep, which was something of a relief let me tell you. But it might take some time for Harry to realize that isn't the case with you."

"…That really pisses me off you know," Yasaka said, leaning against her side as her earlier anger left her. "Still, at least now I understand why you never objected to the idea of my joining you both, as well as the other girls."

"Well, partly," Rias said with a laugh. "Not so much you. After all, we've talked about how I'd like to partake in some experimentation in the future between us," she said, leaning down to now kiss Yasaka lightly on the lips, she didn't want to even act as if she wanted anything more from the exhausted, sore woman on the bed. I suppose Fox Youkais don't have the same natural endurance as werewolves. Oh well, Yasaka certainly reaped what she sowed, even if there was no actual sowing going on.

She spent a few hours taking care of Yasaka, talking quietly with the woman, and then left her to sleep, arriving at school as homeroom ended, taking over from a simulacrum almost seamlessly. Gah, I wish I could get away with sending a simulacrum every day, but I suppose I made this particular bed didn't I? It was Sona and I who pushed our parents into letting us come to a normal high school. I never thought that my normal school would be more a bother than a highlight of my day.

Regardless, it wasn't as if they couldn't turn their time in school to something more productive. Nodding over at Akeno, she whispered, "I'll look at that bit of history homework for us both if you want to start work on that question Harry was posing yesterday, the one about adding more magical reserves into the wards?"

"Ara, thank you Rias-chan. And after I work on that up until lunch, I can take over while you work on that advanced observation spell you and Tonks were trying to work out," Akeno replied, and Rias nodded, happy that her friend had stopped calling her Oujosama. With that, she raised her hand and covered them both with a mix of Devil and wizard spells to hide what they were doing at their desks while allowing them to be aware of the world around them. This way they would be aware of the class and also be able to work on their own work.

Both women smiled later that day as Harry walked into the classroom in the period before lunch, his own gaze moving over them, his emerald eyes making Akeno smile back before looking away coquettishly as Rias just smiled, before Harry's eyes swept on. There was nothing in that look to give the game away, so to speak since they still couldn't be open about their relationship in school. Which, Rias reflected, was a major contributor to the whole school scene wearing on her.

If Harry was facing the same problem, there was no sign of it as he addressed the class, as usual. But even as he addressed the class, Rias felt his eyes stray to her and Akeno more often than the other students. "Good afternoon class. I hope everyone had time to do their homework over the weekend. Remember that tomorrow, we will be having our 'Play's the Thing' competition, so you all should be ready to present your play and the scene you've memorized." He then chuckled, winking at the class. "And as you might have heard from your kohai (younger students) I do appreciate people attempting to speak with accents to match the characters, so let's make it epic ladies and gentlemen."

From there class continued as Harry worked the class through more than two dozen new English terms, moving them through the meaning and how to verbalize them as always on a Monday. From there, he asked students several questions about current events they had to answer in English, with him stopping them if their sentence structure was off or not.

Through it all, Rias and Akeno also worked on their own projects though Harry did call on them occasionally. Akeno took the opportunity as Harry was moving around the room to flirt with him as she could letting one foot out to rub against his lower leg as he moved by, or leaning over her desk and reading from a newspaper as she quoted a story about a corrupt politician being caught out with his mistress, letting those in front of her a very nice glimpse down her uniform's blouse.

Harry rolled his eyes at her when none of the other students were looking. But, when he could, flirted back, running a hand through her hair from behind as someone else read off from a newspaper, or staying still and simply watching her, or Rias with a certain look in his when no one could see.

And then near the end of the day, he stepped in harshly when a boy attempted to pass a message to either Rias, calling the boy out and telling him that the classroom was not for that kind of thing. "If you want to woo a girl, Saito-kun, do it on your own time and in person rather than a letter. Girls prefer a personal touch."

Rias giggled at that while Akeno and the rest of the class laughed. Even Saito took it good-naturedly. He didn't seem happy later though when Akeno turned him down without even seeming to think about it when Saito approached her at lunch. "I'm sorry Saito-kun, but at the moment, I am not in a position where I would be able to be in a relationship with someone."

"But, Himejima-san, you're easily one of the best students in the school, surely you could, that is, we could take time to ourselves rather than school and not have our grades suffer," he said, looking at Akeno pleadingly. Or rather between her face and her chest.

Akeno barely stopped herself from lashing out magically, and then looked up as Harry came back into the room and she decided to take a bit of a harder stance. "No thank you Saito-kun. After all, besides time, there has to be a mutual attraction between the people thinking about going out. And I am afraid that is not the case here."

The boy slumped, but before he could try again or make a scene, Harry came back from the teacher's lounge holding out his bento. "I have that monkfish dish you wanted to try Gremory-san. But I believe you promised to let me try some of your family's spicy curry? And did you want me to look over that essay you submitted to Tokyo U, Himejima-san?"

Rias and Akeno both smiled at him as Akeno moved to start up a cup of tea as Rias answered in the affirmative whispering a thank you to Harry as she went and putting an extra swing in her hips as she did, feeling his eyes follow her for a brief second longer than they should have. With a reason for the three of them to eat together, the class emptied, with several of the girls pulling Saito along since they wanted to 'talk' to him about so approaching one of the Two Great Ladies, especially when they were both so busy preparing for their future. While some were sad they had no time for romance – and others wondering about the lack – all the girls among the student body was certain of one thing: there wasn't a boy on campus worthy of their magnificent Oneesamas. That hadn't changed since the start of the school year.

The three of them ate together as the two girls shared what they had done that morning with Harry giving Akeno a few runes to look at in particular as points where more runic arrays could be tied into preexisting, working wards. He couldn't help Rias much with her own project, but he could give her a possible example of what she might want: the Marauder's Map, something that could update itself from the wards. "Whether that will carry over when we're talking about wards that are created by a mix of three different magical schools, I don't know though. You can have it, for now, see what you can do, but I'd recommend you get Tonks and Kala in on this too."

After lunch, however, Rias's time to concentrate on her own magic projects ended as she took over a Simulacrum of Harry. Through the use of an Onmyouji talisman to change her voice, she took over the classes in the afternoon. Harry had a discussion with a dragon to see to.

OOOOOOO

"And what brings you to my abode this time Harry Potter?" Tiamat rumbled, making no effort to open her eyes or even turn her head to look at him as she lay out in the bright sun above. While warm-blooded, there was no denying that Dragons did have some lizard-like qualities and enjoyed the same things.

"A thinly-veiled plea couched as a request and a question," Harry said. He stood to one side of Tiamat's massive form, one head cocked to one side as he stared hard at the Chromatic Dragoness. "You and I have this familiar bond between us, and while your power and intelligence make us equals, that doesn't mean you can simply come and go as you wish. It means I should be able to rely on you for help and aid when needed. But while you took part in the battle against the Fallen Legion, you retreated here the instant it was over. You barely offer to help at all unless cajoled. And there are far too many ways you could help us more than you are currently for me to allow that to continue. I asked you to return to Kuoh the night I returned from facing Ophis and you didn't even reply!"

"'Allow'?" Tiamat asked dangerously. "You overstep yourself, Potter. We might have this contract between us, but do not doubt I would still take poorly any attempt to control me."

"I'm not trying to control you; I'm trying to ask you for help since apparently you won't do it without me doing so!" Harry growled back almost letting Fragarach form in his hand for a second but fighting the urge. "You cannot have it both ways Tiamat, simply taking part when the mood suits you and not giving your aid all the time."

He softened his tone as he went on, moving forward so that he was face to face with Tiamat, who had at last opened her eyes. "I am appreciative of the help you have given us, helping the others to understand what happened to me when I collapsed, attempting to help me to figure out my divine powers and to protect the academy during this fight. But with Ophis out there and with the other threats, we, my family and friends, need you to be involved more. Please."

At this second mention of that creature, Tiamat shuddered. There were very few beings she was scared to measure herself against, but Ophis topped that list. Even so, why in the name of the primordial vortex did the Void Dragon take on the form of a little girl? For some reason that makes it even creepier. "Is it true you stood up to IT, to Ophis?"

"I did. Did you think my message to you lied?" Harry asked, biting the words out. "If that thing had changed its mind, if it had attacked Kuoh, we could have used you."

"And I would have died along with the rest of you. Nothing can stand against the Void Dragon Potter, not even monsters like Sirzechs or Ajuka could do that," Tiamat sighed, trying to push past her concerns about Ophis and it taking a female loli as its chosen body, to the idea of being cut off from Harry, and through him her Nookie Source, or as the Nookie Source called himself, Ddraig. "Still, I… have been indeed reluctant to involve myself in your affairs. That has been a mistake on my part. I will attempt to be more present in the future. Just don't expect me to be involved in your day to day affairs," Tiamat warned. "I still don't like shrinking myself or being in my human form, and I refuse to spend time in that form more than I must."

"Fine, but I request you join us on specific tasks when asked, and that you come and join us for a day every week for dinner and discussions. For all that you aren't able to help me much with my divine powers, you can perhaps help us further our understanding of magic in general," Harry replied, happy Tiamat had given in. While it was true their familiar bond hadn't really seemed to help him much, Tiamat's knowledge and her own power was another thing entirely.

"Humph, so long as you don't attempt to make me a teacher at this school…" Tiamat's eyes widened and she broke off, instead beginning to thump her head against the ground hard enough to cause tremors. "I am a freaking idiot! Why didn't that occur to me before! A teacher, yes! You need a teacher who can walk you through using your Devine powers! GAAAH, how did I not think of this before?!"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Gah… never mind. It will take me months to follow up on that idea, finding someone who doesn't want to be found and has had centuries to perfect that skill is not going to be easy. But if I can, perhaps I can introduce you to someone who will be willing to walk you through your divine powers." Tiamat suddenly laughed, a deep bell-like tone that shook the ground underneath her. "Indeed, while finding the damned bird-headed bastard will be tough, you've provided me with a mighty fine carrot in that school of yours. A place where multiple magical styles can be taught, he'll jump on that to be sure!"

"Who exactly are we talking about here?"

But Tiamat would not be drawn yet. "I honestly am not even certain he's still alive, and I refuse to look the fool if I am wrong. But I might have something by the time you get back from your break in March."

With that, Harry had to be satisfied, and he left to head back to Kuoh, annoyed by her reticence, but satisfied that Tiamat would become more of a member of his clan going forward. That meant they would all be safer, and that made him truly happy.

OOOOOOO

If Harry had expected his week to get less busy from then on with the agreement with the Onmyodo government now hammered out, he would have been bitterly disappointed. Luckily neither Harry nor any of the rest of his growing family and friends were so stupid. A case in point that week was both Serafall and Sirzechs showing up one after another to train the combined peerages and Harry's family. Of course they were supposed to come once every week, but being Siscons, both of them insisted on being first to honor their agreement with Sona and Rias. This led to much weeping and pain for Harry and the others, but even that wasn't the highlight of his week. No, the highlight of Harry, Kiba and Issei's week came that weekend, when they headed to Mount Huaguo.

Kiba, Harry, Issei, and Montoya all blinked in the bright sunlight overhead as they came out of the teleportation array on top of a small apartment complex. They had gone down to the Underworld and then come back up, using a teleportation ring that another family, the Agares Clan, had to their holdings in Hong Kong. They had met briefly with the family heiress, an up-and-coming High-Class Devil like Rias and Sona named Seekvaira, who Rias apparently was quite friendly with. According to Rias, they shared "Similar interests, although hers are far more narrowly focused," whatever that meant.

That and the girl seemed to have a subtle torch for the last member of their party, although only Harry seemed to have seen it. Sairaorg Bael had indeed decided to join them for this mission, more to see if this Bikou fellow was a challenge than anything else

"So, where do we go from here?" Harry asked, looking over at Montoya.

The older man shook his head, pulling out a flying carpet and enlarging it before setting it down on the ground. "Get on. We have a ways to go yet to get to Mount Huaguo. A pity the holdings in Hong Kong are only two such Devil holdings in China, but there you are." The Devils, like most of the other mystical societies, didn't have much territory in China, thanks to the magical portion of World War II, and the coming of Chinese-style Communism and the stranglehold it held on the mainland's economy.

Montoya's prediction was accurate. The flying carpet was a decent ride, and more than large enough for all of them, but it wasn't as fast as a broom. Indeed, it was barely as fast as a nonmagical passenger plane. As such it took them about five hours from where they came out to reach the mountain range within which Huaguo was hidden among the strongest wards the Monkey youkai and their Buddhist allies could create. And that had been the closest point to the so-called holy site.

As they went, Montoya told them what to expect, but when they arrived, that hadn't really helped them all that much. It was one thing to be told that this ceremony was more of a giant kegger. It was another to see it in real life. The party began to be noticeable as soon as they crossed over the wards, which, Montoya commented, were divine in nature, put there by Sun Wukong and his allies when he achieved Enlightenment. But wondering about those wards left Harry's mind as he stared around him at the mountain thus revealed.

First was the noise. A raucous cacophony of actual monkeys, shouts from monkey Youkai, and hoots and hollers of all sorts reverberated from higher up the mountain. The second was the view. Whereas elsewhere in the mountain range this high up there should have been fir or other high altitude trees and some snow, here was literally every tree Harry had ever seen and then some all mixed up haphazardly. And all of them were in full bloom, even those that shouldn't be, and there was life and the smell of fruit and growing things everywhere.

And the smell of alcohol, so much so it stung Harry's nose even in his human body. Right, no turning into werewolf here without a spell to deaden my nose. I'd be next to useless here. "It is a beautiful spot but I can't imagine that a mountain this size can be hidden so easily under wards. What kind of other spells cover this area?"

"The easiest spell of all, deterrence," Montoya said with a chuckle. "When the Chinese developed nuclear missiles, one of their earliest testing centers was near here, one where there were several radiation leaks, nothing like Chernobyl, but large enough to make them abandon the area. It was an easy matter to fudge their records to include the area around Mount Huaguo to make the whole area a no go zone. The fact people who come up here without the proper equipment sometimes disappear helps that cover immensely."

As they moved up the mountain, the hoots and hollers got loud enough for Harry to cast a low scale Mufilatio on his ears, deadening the sound slightly. Yet he was still able to hear the noise of drums as they continued on their way up a wide trail through the impossible woods. At first, it sounded almost as if someone was beating out a song, but then it sounded started to sound far more raucous, the beat becoming far more haphazard, and wild.

After that, they started to spot actual Monkey Youkai. Most of them were drunk off their asses and laid out here and there on the ground her up in the trees. Some of them were even dangling from their tails or legs, whereas others were asleep more normally. A few of them were awake enough to see the outsiders, but since Montoya was leading them, they didn't bother them.

"Any idea where he and all of this turmoil our quarry is going to be?" Harry asked, before ducking as a regular monkey and a Monkey Youkai flipped through the area he had just vacated on two vines, the Youkai shouting out something about the monkey having stolen his beer.

Sairaorg boomed a laugh, shaking his head as he sidestepped two Monkey Youkai and then leaped over two more who were wrestling furiously yet with all the body control of a pair of toddlers. "Yeah, you told us this was going to be a huge party, but this is way more than I expected. Reminds me of those American movies about their colleges and frat parties."

As they continued through the mountainous terrain, they saw more and more monkey people and started to garner more attention. A few Monkey Youkai stopped what they were doing to stare at them, while monkies sat up on their perches to take notice, hooting at one another. More than one turned and present their asses to the newcomers, and Kiba had his hands full keeping Issei from racing after them.

"Is it that unusual for outsiders to be here?" Kiba asked, hauling Issei away from a shouting match with one ape. The Monkey Youkai had seemingly thought that was great fun and had been chuckling all the while.

Humans come by occasionally, my type of Youkai regularly intermarry with humans, and the men are invited to this or other such ceremonies as a sort of rite of passage," Montoya said with a shrug. "It is unusual for Devils and wizards to here though. In fact, I think only about three marriages in a thousand or so would be between Youkai and other mystical societies."

Three drenched Monkey Youkai raced past, shouting and whooping at one another, as a fourth raced behind them, carrying what looked like the world's largest, most evil-looking water gun. Next was a single monkey Youkai who was racing away from two more who were down to their underwear, the first carrying orange jumpsuits. "Gonna burn the jumpsuits! Orange is the color of the devil!"

"No it isn't," Sairaorg said with a chuckle. "Just ask my grandfather he'd tell you the color of the Devil is black. 'The blackness residing in every man's soul'!" he intoned in a deep voice, laughing, as Harry and the others rolled their eyes. Harry liked the younger man and had talked to him for much of the trip, although he'd been very clear on not taking the man's offer of a spar. Rias had been very explicit on that point.

By the time they were halfway up the mountain, Issei, Harry, and Sairaorg were all laughing and joking and Montoya, was hooting with two gourds full of the local mead in his hands, drinking from one, then the other as he danced along with them, actually lifting himself on his prehensile tail a time or two. "Are you trying to do a Tigger impression?" Harry asked as he changed the beer in his hand to water, doing the same for Issei after a second's thought. The other two were adults in his mind and could be trusted to know their limits and keep the mission in mind.

"Funny thing, the author, of that, you know he married a, a Monkey Youkai," Montoya said, stumbling over his words as he was drinking at the same time.

"That," Harry said after a few minutes silent thought. "Must've been one hell of a wedding night. Bet he wished his wedding tackle was made of springs then."

That comment caused hoots and laughter from all around, as many of the monkey monsters had overheard, and more than one of them shouted a ribald response. "Broke the bed they did, it's a tradition!" "It's a goal, lads! Always leave them with a smile!" "Once you go Monkey, you don't go back!"

Kiba looked around; shaking his head "This is a little much."

"Oh lighten up!" Issei said, throwing an arm around the knight and squeezing lightly. "This is a party!"

"That is self-evident, thank you very much," Kiba said with a laugh. "It's just, there's something weird in the air here isn't there? Or is that just me."

"And it's not just you," Montoya said, with a laugh. "There is definitely something in the air, these trees that look like Sakura trees, they're not real Sakura trees."

Harry frowned at that, and quickly reached out to a falling petal grabbing it out of the air. It was thicker and more rubbery to the touch than a normal Sakura leaf should be, almost as if it was some kind of plant-like aloe rather than a Sakura leaf. "Interesting, let me guess, some kind of drug from the smell of them decomposing?"

"A very feel-good sort of drug," Montoya said with a nod. "It's one of the few remaining magical tree species that have never been transplanted out of China. And it's a major export. In fact, I know of at least four different attempts for it to be put out into the non-magical world, and I know Sona-sama is pushing for Yasaka-hime to add it to the trade goods."

"Are there any negative effects," Harry asked, feeling a little wary despite that statement.

Montoya shook his head "No. At least none that I know of. The smell just acts like a kind of low-powered laughing gas."

"OOOOOHH what've we here, some Devils come to Master Wukong's Sacred Mountain!? I will toss you out!" Shouted a large Monkey Youkai. Several others gathered behind them hooting and hollering. It didn't seem personal or vindictive. Rather, it seemed as if they were just looking for a fight.

Harry shrugged and decided to hand this problem off to his own rowdies. "Sairaorg?"

The young man nodded, stepped forward, and smashed the large Monkey Youkai with a single punch, tossing him aside. "Huh, I just meant that as a greeting. He was a lot weaker than I thought."

"Next!" Harry shouted from behind him.

There were hoots and laughter, but only two more takers stood up. Then Kiba and Issei both stepped forward, and they pushed past the group of rowdies, moving up the trail.

Now, at last, the forest slowly started to give way to a wider trail. This trail led them to the bottom of a cairn, a series of waterfalls falling down the mountain and ending in a large pond whose color was almost too blue to be believed. And at the top of the waterfall leaning was a giant tree. It was a crab tree of some kind, though its fruit was huge and looked edible whereas most of that type did not. And of immense size. It looked almost like a miniature hill stuck outside of the mountain, with several branches rearing across one of the waterfalls straight across to the other side, which seemed lined with cherry trees and peach bearing bushes of some kind.

The very top of the waterfall disappeared under the feet of a massive Buddha statue. It was a huge, stone thing, not golden save for its halo and a single series of beads around its neck. The rest was stone, and the skin of the Buddha's hands and feet and face and arms were all covered by intricate markings Harry could tell were runes even from here. That had to be the source of the wards guarding this place, but looking at the statue, Harry was suddenly worried; wondering if that was all it did.

There were about a hundred Monkey Youkai lounged around, joking, drinking, fighting and swimming with another bunch up in the tree. Instantly, Montoya pointed to one of them in particular. "That's him," he said, and as the man turned, Harry realized that is who they were here to capture.

Bikou was gamboling about, laughing and cackling with a few others, reenacting some kind of fight, with a staff in his hand. Around him were several dozen other younger men, all of them whooped in delight as he continued his story. It seemed to be about Bikou fighting a swordsman named Arthur.

Regardless of the story, it was evident that whatever his terrorist status among most of the Youkai Association, he was something of a minor celebrity here. Or should that be a major celebrity? Harry thought. More of the monkey monster were watching him than were watching the newcomers as they moved through the crowd.

He frowned, his eyes narrowed as he tried to think of why he suddenly felt that they were about to walk into a trap, but none of the others seemed to feel anything amiss, not even Montoya, and Sairaorg moved forward with a whoop, leaping up toward the waterfalls, bouncing off rocks to land across the waterfall from the man they were here to capture, taking a martial arts stance. "Isn't it more fun to have an actual fight than to reenact one!" he shouted, "Bikou of the Monkey Youkai, I, Sairaorg Bael, challenge you!"

Bikou turned towards them, and Harry was now close enough to see more of his features. Most of it matched the picture he had been given several months back: a handsome, well-muscled young man, with a thin looking face, short-cropped brown hair, with a circlet on his head, and a face made to smile or laugh, with expressive eyes. That face was now somewhat flushed with drink, but he was sober enough to nod towards Sairaorg, flipping his staff around himself in an intricate display before leveling it tip first at the other young man. "Challenge accepted!" he bawled out then leaped forward.

Sairaorg too leaped forward, and the two met midair over the waterfall, the staff flashing out in an intricate attack, thrusting, swishing through the air, then the Monkey Youkai was twisting around Sairaorg's blows, lashing out with a kick that nearly caught him in the face. Sairaorg dodged back at the center of the exact moment he had to, but Bikou's movements were so uncoordinated and wild, that he couldn't get a blow in himself.

And it was evident that he wasn't nearly as home in fighting in the air as Bikou, but since Bikou wasn't using magic, Sairaorg wasn't using his Devil power of flight either. Actually, I haven't seen him open his wings yet at all. Odd that.

"You face a master of Drunken Style!" Shouted one of the other monkeys, hooting and hollering as he danced on the edge of another tree branch. "You'll never hit him!"

"Wushaaaa!" shouted the rest of the crowd, cheering on the local boy.

Sairaorg took this as a challenge, something Harry had anticipated the moment those words left the Monkey Youkai's mouth, and he attacked all the harder. But his personal style was a hard style, which, as far as Harry knew, was built around hitting power and endurance. His speed was tremendous too, as fast as Kiba going at his fastest if not more, but so too did Bikou's. If Sairaorg could've landed a single blow, Harry was certain that he would've ended the fight then and there.

However, the Monkey Youkai was simply too wild, his movements too chaotic for Sairaorg to get a handle on. Every time it looked as if he was, Bikou would bend or dip out of the way that was frankly unnatural even for someone as mobile as him. "GRAAH, it's like fighting freaking Gumby!" Sairaorg roared out as he leaped backward to a rock before moving forward again.

Eventually, the two of them bounced away from one another, with the Monkey Youkai rolling across a few steppingstones set in the river before rocks, lifting himself into a handstand, before actually balancing like a monkey on the tip of his staff is it was thrust into the ground. He held out a hand, and another monkey tossed a gourd towards him which he grabbed, and guzzled down, whooping, then lifting himself up onto his feet and thrusting his hands out in either direction as he continued to balance there. "Who's the man, huh?!"

"Bikou's the man!" All of the monkeys roared.

Sairaorg scowled irritably, having simply landed on his the other side of the cliff, shaking his head. "Dammit! Stop dancing around like that, fight me like a man!"

"I'm not a man," Bikou replied, taking up a stance like a monkey as he scratched at his armpits. "I am a Monkey Youkai!"

This seemed to be the height of hilarity for the monkeys all around them, and Harry groaned, shaking his head. Kiba and Issei both laughed too, and then Kiba of all people, leaped forward to the stone that Sairaorg had used previously, whipping out a sword. "Then let us see if you can handle a Knight!"

Harry's eyes narrowed and he looked over at Montoya as Bikou leaped forward again, and the two of them exchanged blows once more in midair over the stream. "If we interrupt these one-on-one matches, is that going to be a bad thing or will the rest of the locals not care?"

Turning his attention from the match going on reluctantly, Montoya frowned looking around them as more and more monkey monsters appeared through the woods. "Do you think you can teleport us away from here?"

Harry frowned, looked around, and grabbed up a stone from nearby, creating a port key instantly on it, then dropping another stone on top. What should've happened was both stones should have disappeared, but nothing happened. The stones remained where they were. And he narrowed his eyes before concentrating, using Apparition which should have carried him away to the bottom of the mountain. Nothing happened. Damn it, I wish I was able to use the Gremory style teleportation, but it's so freaking math-intensive it's impossible for me to use it without hours of prep time. "Apparently not," Harry drawled, almost glaring at Montoya now. "That would've been important information to have before we arrived."

Montoya shrugged. "I didn't know. Or rather I knew Buddha's Blessing was on this place, but I didn't know what it would do to your magic."

"So, the question has to be asked, will we have to fight our way out of here?"

"Probably," Montoya said with a shrug. "And I'll probably be barred from any further festivals too. That's a damn shame, the mead they have here is amazing!"

"That's nice," Harry said resisting the urge to reach out and choke the older man. This is the second time I've run into an anti-magic field. From now on I think I'm going to need to get Sirzechs to train me in more hand to hand combat than magical combat. "Still, we came here to do a job, not have fun."

"Issei, you know that spell of yours, the one you use to cover your enemies with ropes? Get ready to do your thing!" Harry ordered, pointing over waterfall towards the other Monkey Youkai, those who he had seen would definitely follow Bikou whatever happened.

Issei pouted at that, having eagerly been waiting for his own turn to challenge the Monkey Youkai. At the same time, Kiba actually landed a strike, his greater dexterity allowing him to catch Bikou, although it wasn't exactly a telling blow, a cut across his opponent's open shoulder. "First blood!" he shouted.

This caused him to miss the staff coming around in an arc. It smacked into the side of the head, sending him down into the waterfall. Bikou bounced away, cackling even as one hand raised to wipe away the blood. "Who said we were just fighting the first blood baka!" Bikou crowed.

The assembled Monkey Youkai all hooted and hollered their delight at the somewhat underhanded move, shouting, "More! More!"

Above them, the mighty Buddha statue looked on in something like amusement, Harry thought, even as he stepped forward.

"My turn," he said, nodding over to Issei, whispering, "now.

Issei pouted, but complied, gathering his magical power rising within him. Despite being only a pawn, his magical reserves had grown from the near-constant training, and he began to visualize the effect of the spell to come. But instead of the Sticky-Sticky Cannon Harry had ordered him to use Issei used a new spell he had learned in the past few days of being without a girlfriend and wanted to perfect before turning it on his true opponents. And, it had to be said, like Kiba and the others he had been somewhat affected by the light narcotic in the air. "Take this, advanced Incarcerous, Bondage Style: Tentacle HELL!"

All of the Monkey Youkais in sight shrieked in unison as the tentacles rose up from the ground all around them. They were thin, prehensile vines almost, which dripped with white stuff that Harry prayed was glue. They grabbed and tied up dozens of Monkey Youkai in a bare few seconds as the semi-drugged Issei whooped. "Oh yeah! I cannot wait to use this on Sona's peerage the next time we spar against them!"

The atmosphere around them changed instantly at Issei's attack, but Harry was already moving, racing up the side of the waterfall. At the same time, more and more of the monkeys that had gathered to watch the fights began to hoot angrily, some of them cracking their knuckles, others grabbing at gourds of drink or food plates and tossing them towards the interlopers at the bottom of the waterfall. One of them nailed Issei in the head and tossed him into the water,

"It was all fun and games until you brought tentacle porn into play!," Bikou shouted in hilarity having dodged his way through several tentacles. His Drunken Fist style gave him an astonishing range of movement, backed by his normal Monkey Youkai dexterity.

Harry hopped forward onto the rock across from Bikou and shifted into his werewolf form, going down into a wrestler's stance, his arms outstretched, as if he was prepared to fight Bikou too. This caused several of the Monkey Youkai to pause in their 'attacks' on his fellows, and Bikou took the bait whooping in delight. "Woohoo! Awesome! I've wanted to test myself against you since we first heard about you and your abilities Harry Potter!"

With that, he started to bounce between several rocks on his side of the river before he whirled his staff around in a wide arc as he shouted, "Power pole extend!" The pole extended from where his side of the river towards Harry in a whirl of red.

If Bikou had thought that would surprise Harry, he was grossly mistaken. And if he had thought that Harry would simply fight him with martial arts, that too was a mistake. Harry ducked, and then reached up with the same reaction speed that had made him such a deadly Seeker even before his change, catching the staff as it was flying by his head. Then, even as Bikou twirled himself around the poll, Harry thrust out his other hand, and a wordless blast of stunning energy slammed into the Monkey Youkai as well as several hundred monkey Youkais on the other side of the river.

Harry had overloaded that spell something fierce; enough so that even an extremely strong, powerful Monkey Youkai like Bikou, with his races decent magical Resistance, was knocked unconscious. Because of where he was, Bikou collapsed, falling from the power pole down the side of the waterfall. The other Monkey Youkai were actually blasted off of their feet even as they too succumbed, hurled backward from the blast.

With another flick of that hand, Harry grabbed Bikou out the air magically, pulling him towards him, with an Accio spell. Even as he did though Harry frowned, feeling the amount of magic he'd had to pour into the spell to get it to work. That's not a good sign.

He grabbed the now unconscious Monkey Youkai, tossing Bikou over one shoulder, and hopping back to his fellows. "Let's get out of here!" he shouted, even as the crowd of Monkey Youkai roared their disapproval. Now rather than gourds of mead or plates of food being tossed their way spears, large rocks, and sticks were also being flung their way. Dozens more Monkey Youkai closed with them, shouting and hooting in fury, bringing with them some actual monkeys too.

Slamming one fist into his other palm, Sairaorg laughed and moved to meet them. "Now this is what I'm talkin' about!" He slammed into the oncoming wave of enemies like a freight train, punching, kicking, and slamming their heads together occasionally, as he roared out, "This is my kind of party! Woohoo!"

Kiba joined him, while Montoya and Issei closing up the rear with Harry and their prisoner in the middle. Thanks to his speed, Kiba was able to guard both of their flanks, but Harry cast a protective spell around himself, watching as it slowly started to flicker away, grimacing irritably. "That anti-magic field which was keeping me from teleporting is now impacting my spells," the werewolf growled, glancing over his shoulder towards the statue of Buddha. That thing he knew was the center of that spell, but they'd already drawn down enough bad blood, and Harry didn't want to cause a true diplomatic incident by destroying it. Not turning in a terrorist was one thing, protesting after he's taken into custody is another. "Let's get a move on gentlemen."

They fought their way down the mountain in a forty-minute running battle as more of the Monkey Youkais became involved. Some of their attacks were dangerous, boulders the size of small houses being tossed their way, only to be shattered by Sairaorg or Harry punching them out of the way. Spears were constantly being flung their way, simple sharpened stakes of bamboo for the most part, with one or two looking more ornate.

Kiba was their main defense against those. With a blade in each hand, he zoomed around the others, the magic in his body not being impacted by the anti-magic field thankfully. That meant his Sacred Gear was still workings, and he occasionally lashed out with wide-angle attack spells, though those failed quickly. In contrast, Issei was their main long-range attacker for a bit, his Devil magic based spells taking more time for the Buddha statue to shut down for some reason, but eventually, he too could no longer use magic.

When his attempt to use the original Bondage style failed and several of the spears sailed through the air towards him. "Gah, I'm out guys!" He then dodged desperately and then moved to hide behind Sairaorg. "Eep, it's all you big guy!"

Indeed, a lot of the Monkey Youkai also attempted to close, but Kiba, Harry, and in particular Sairaorg kept them at bay, with Sairaorg actually having a lot of fun laughing and shouting as he met their charge. "Gahaahaha, come on then!"

What wasn't so fun was the rest of the Monkey Youkai's attacks, because as they continued on, they came under attack from the more drunk Monkey Youkai and they didn't just fling spears, or rocks. No, they threw the alcohol-filled gourds, they threw the torches that had been sputtering here and there, causing fires occasionally that Harry and the others had to divert around. And, even worse for the Devils and Harry, they threw their own feces.

The first time that happened, Issei had just dodged a spear thrown his way, only to run straight into a flung bit of poo which slammed into his chest and exploded. "Gross!" he gagged, turning his head away from the point of impact and holding his nose. "What the hell man!? Who flings shit, honestly?!"

He looked at the Monkey Youkai all around him, who were hooting and hollering as they continued their attack; while more than a few had doubled over with laughter shouting drunkenly, "More! More! Hahaha, hit the shits with the shit!"

"Goddammit!" Issei groaned.

"Oh shut up, at least none of you have my sense of smell," Harry grunted. "The spell on my nose is fading too!"

Now the feces began to fly even more liberally, so much so that only Kiba was able to dodge them all successfully. And since Harry's shield spell had long since sputtered out, his magic no longer able to overcome whatever kind of field the Buddha statue had created all of them were hit at least a few times as they raced on.

Even Kiba was eventually hit. He sliced through one spear, deflecting it, and then cut through the next thing flying at him, only to wince as it came apart, splattering him with shit. "Well…crap."

Worse was the amount of alcohol that was being tossed their way. Soon enough all of them were smelling of shit and alcohol, and still attempting to get out of the area. "Oh god, the smell is getting even to me!" Sairaorg shouted. "This isn't funny anymore."

Harry tried to use his magic occasionally, now concentrating on cleaning charms and anti-smell charms, hoping that they would start working before he just completely lost it, and started to kill every Monkey Youkai around them for the effrontery that this battle had devolved into. One of them worked all of a sudden, gifting him with several breaths of air that didn't smell of monkey shit, and he bellowed, "Everyone, gather round! We are so out of here!" And the next time I fight a bunch of Monkey Youkai I am going to say sod it to any diplomatic issues and just burn them with fire!

He grabbed up a stone from the ground in front of him, and held it out, creating a portkey, as all of the men around him grabbed at his arms, even Sairaorg having had more than enough of this. The next second, they were gone, taking their captive with them.

They reappeared on the roof of the apartment complex where they had teleported up from Agares estate initially. "Thank God," Issei muttered, flopping down, only to grimace as he squished as he did so, reaching behind him and groaning angrily. Dammit, besides my face I don't think even a single bit of me isn't covered with freaking crap!"

"Showers and baths all around, I think," Harry said with a nod, shaking his head as he looked at them all one after another. All of them, even Montoya and Kiba were splattered with feces and alcohol, and Sairaorg was looking extremely angry and disgruntled. And why wouldn't he? Harry thought. You don't fight a freaking High-class Devil with freaking shite. But they sure as hell did! Still, the man actually kept to the briefing and didn't kill any of them, so I'm honestly happy he came with us.

Tossing Bikou from his shoulder, Harry conjured up several manacles, clamping him down. As he did so though, Bikou woke up, and began to cackle, causing the others to pause from where they had been about to troop into the building to the first apartment they came to which had a working bath.

"Are you still drunk?" Harry asked incredulously. "I've never been hit by a stupefy while being drunk, but I imagine it would probably knock most of the alcohol out of your system."

Bikou didn't reply. Instead, he continued to laugh until Montoya reached over and slapped him upside the head. "What are you laughing at youngster?!" he barked.

"You old man," Bikou said with a laugh. "All of you. Did you honestly think that it would be that simple?"

"Simple?" Sairaorg barked, gesturing down at himself, where his chest plate, silk leggings, and shoulders all the rest were covered in alcohol and shit. "You call this simple?"

"I call that smelly sure!" Bikou laughed again. Then his tail rose, and he smacked the tip into his nose. An instant later he disappeared in a poof of smoke. His body just simply disappeared into a replaced by a flash of smoke the color of smog, leaving behind a single hair glowing in midair, to denote where he had been before it slowly drifted to the ground.

Harry stared at it, then over at Montoya who looked appalled. "That, that is one of Sun Wukong's personal tricks! No other Monkey Youkai has figured out how to do the Hair Multiplication Trick! How the hell did he pull that off?"

"More importantly," Sairaorg said as he stared down at his body then up at Montoya, real anger in his face now. "Are you telling me that we went through that entire escapade for nothing!?"

Harry too looked down at himself with a sigh, shaking his head. "Yes well, again at least you lot aren't werewolves. Even with my spell impending its senses, I think my nose has sought employment elsewhere at the moment, and won't return without certain promises being made. To that end gentlemen, I suggest that we all get showered and changed. Bikou put one over on us this time, and I for one refuse to let it end like this."

The Devils and Harry took over the penthouse of the apartment complex, using Alohamora to unlock it. Then they covered the area with a Notice Me Not so they wouldn't be disturbed, before using the bath and showers they found there. Numerous cleaning charms from Harry helped to clean both them and the baths after they were done.

As they all lounged around in the magically enlarged bath, Montoya let his body sink into the water, groaning. "The Monkey Youkai are going to spread the word of what happens today far and wide. We are going to be laughing stocks among the Youkai community."

"Oh no they won't," Harry said with a grim little smile. "I was serious when I said that I wasn't going to let it end like this. I think it's time to take a chance and see if wards around wards can help us out here. Will that party still be going on despite our interruption?"

"Yes, the ceremony will still be going on," Montoya said with a nod. "They wouldn't let our attempt to steal Bikou away stop them from partying, especially with all the fun they had trying to stop us. Hells, Bikou might still be there."

"Good," Harry said with a grim nod. "In that case, I have a bit of work I'll need to do there. And now that I've been to the base of the mountain once, I can portkey us all back there once we're done with our baths."

Montoya looked at him, and Harry shrugged. "Thanks to how I was testing it as we went along I can tell where that anti-magic field ended, and I can put up a series of wards around it. Some will be memory charms to erase our faces and presences from their memory. Their memories will be disjointed, but none of those Youkai who leave will be able to connect our identities to what happened. That's about as much as I can do with wards. I could do more if we caught the Monkey Youkai as they left, but I wager they all leave in different directions, and there's not enough of us to cover the mountain from every angle. I can only hope that Bikou will either be leaving on foot or via a magical means I know about."

"Can you block flight?" Montoya asked intently. "A lot of my people like to use flying carpets or other things."

"Flight is surprisingly easy once you break it down," Harry replied and Sairaorg leaned forward intently. "Any kind of magical flight still has to move through the air, and you can base a ward off of stopping that from occurring, making the air harden around them so they can't move."

Montoya grinned gleefully while his eyes sparkled with a true prankster's delight. "In that case, we still might have a chance at this. Bikou's certain to use Kint'oun to travel, and there are a few ways to figure out where, or rather at what altitude he'll be…"

OOOOOOO

Bikou laughed gaily as he thrust his fist in the air to the cheers of some of his fellow Monkey Youkais who were staying behind to clean up Mount Huaguo after the party. They'd lost a series of games of chance, and thus had been forced to stay behind, not exactly a fun duty for anyone. But they would be repaid next time the ceremony occurred by being the first to drink from the sacred mead, and getting the choicest bit of food. Bikou had been there when he was younger, and he could say that it was indeed a decent pay for what was otherwise scut work.

But that wasn't what had put a smile on his face. No, fooling Harry Potter and the Devils who'd come with him, that had been hilarious. Oh, learning that Harry could so easily overwhelm My magical resistance wasn't fun, but, fighting the others with my Drunken Fist had been great. And then being able to fool Harry by switching out with a hair clone right before I attacked him with that overdone swing of my Ruyi Jingu Bang? That was a fantastic idea if I say it myself.

"I am so damn glad I spied on my great etc. grandfather practicing that technique. I still can't use it in combat really, not often anyway, but for his escapes it's great fun," Bikou mused as the original Kinot'un floated up through the air, carrying him up into the air above Mount Huaguo.

"Hah, and then all of those guys… those other monkeys… why was I… what the heck did those four do to deserve the shit storm?" he mused, his memories of what had occurred suddenly becoming disjointed as he crossed over the first ward in the area. Eventually he shrugged and grinned. "Meh, whatever, they challenged me, and then they paid for it."

Soon he reached the altitude he wanted and the island turned toward the distant ocean, speeding up. He was still grinning at the memory a second later when the cloud slammed into something invisible in the air in front of him, almost throwing him off of it if not for the magic inherent in the Kinto'un keeping him aboard. "What the heck!"

A second later his surprise faded into shock as Harry appeared in midair nearby, already casting a spell towards him. "Stupefy!" Harry roared.

But Bikou, being an alive and therefore paranoid terrorist was already moving diving off of his cloud in a move that surprised Harry. The cloud raced down after him, getting underneath him automatically. Yet still more Devils appeared in the air, one he recognized as one of the up and coming young High Class Devils named Sairaorg Bael. The other was Kiba Yuuto. The twosome moved to bracket the panicking Bikou. This was made worse by Harry flashing more stunning spells towards him, and Bikou yelped again as he dived between them, moving faster and more agilely on his cloud than even Kiba could match in the air. Harry though was closing quickly on his heels from have been thrown off by his first desperate dodge, and Bikou knew he was running out of time quickly.

"Damn it!" He snarled, wondering how the heck they had found him, still unable to connect Harry and the others to the people he'd made fools of earlier. Have to get out of here, now! Damn it, I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this, but… With a grimace he lifted one hand up to his earing, pulling it apart. The spell within a prepared teleportation of the sort a dragon or god could use to appear wherever it controlled the surrounding area, activated instantly as the loop broke. An instant later he disappeared, appearing several time zones away in the Khaos Brigade's main base, landing with a thump whereupon he rolled to the side and threw up on the ground.

"Nyaa, what the heck happened to you Bikou?" Kuroka asked, blinking as she stared at him dancing away from the smell.

"Ugh… just … shut up. Need some alcohol to get over this," Bikou groaned.

Back in the air over Mount Huaguo, Harry just stared at where Bikou had been, and then around, his face furious. "What, the cocking shite kind of teleportation was that?" he asked, looking around at the others. They all shrugged their ignorance and Harry growled angrily as Montoya and Issei rose up on the Monkey Youkai's flying carpet. "Fucking hells!"

"…So despite our best efforts, this has been a wash from start to finish?" Sairaorg asked, rubbing at his face irritably.

"Yep." Kiba said, groaning.

"I vote that we all never speak of this again and just make as if none of this ever happened. All in favor say aye," Harry said, holding up his hand.

"Hah!" Kiba grunted a laugh while the others all raised their hands. "You think Rias-sama and Yasaka-san won't be able to tell something happened the instant they see us?"

"Damn it let me dream man!" Harry growled.

OOOOOOO

"…So he was already gone?" Rias asked, shaking her head as she stared at Harry, giving him a long, steady not-quite-glare.

Beside her Yasaka grinned in a truly vulpine manner as she looked between her lover and her captain of the guard, who was looking mighty shifty. Really? That's your story? Ooooh why do I think there's a juicy story involved in this? The two of them had been waiting here in Kyoto for news about the capturing team, but had been disappointed. That disappointment though was slowly disappearing as both women came to realize something truly embarrassing had happened to their beau.

"Yep. Already gone. And the locals didn't seem to take our being there too kindly, so after a few hours of searching we left Montoya there to question them and hightailed it out of there," Harry said, nodding his head firmly as he tried to match Rias look for look. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. "Now, what have you all been up to today?" He asked in an effort to change the subject. It didn't work and soon enough male heads were hanging as feminine peals of laughter rebounded through Yasaka's room.

OOOOOOO

A bare two days after their disastrous attempt to capture Bikou, Harry and Loup leaned against a concrete wall side by side in companionable silence by a designated ingress point that Harry had created over the past week. Originally an abandoned parking lot, next to a store that had gone out of business years ago - a retail store which had closed and never been bought up again - the two Devils had created a teleportation welcoming zone there much like the area the Rias his family had in their mansion. Here people could teleport in via a portkey by Harry and be formally read into the wards of the area.

He was waiting here for the first group of Onmyouji, those families and single men and women who had decided to move into the area now as part of the new alliance between the Onmyodo government, Harry and the others. These families wanted to learn right away, wanted to be part of the construction process, the creation of the school Harry had proposed. Among them were about fourteen who had professed a desire to learn from him and Tonks European style combat magics.

Thanks to the groundwork they'd already laid, it really hadn't taken long, in political terms at least, for the agreements between Harry, Rias and Sona to be ratified by the Onmyodo government. About two and a half weeks of back and forth talk between Harry and the Onmyodo government and the agreement had been finalized and signed. Now if Sona's plan to buy out that adult toy store works, we might be able to buy out the rest of that strip of stores and break ground sometime this summer. That'll be nice. I just wish I could say that the Khaos Brigade and whatever god was behind the skeletons would let us get on with our lives like that.

This was something Harry, Rias, Sona, and Yasaka were all clear on: that the school, while fascinating and a major draw, was a goal for the future, the goal now was to get stronger. It was why Kiba, Issei, and the others were training so much their grades were suffering. It was why Tsubaki, Akeno, and Kala were looking into a few long term magical projects, why Harry was training with Koneko and Rias every other evening rather than simply having family time. There were dangers out there, big-time threats that could destroy what they were building here if they didn't get stronger.

And it was threats, for certain. Harry was actually more worried about the Death God that had been behind the skeletons more than Ophis. Ophis and the Khaos Brigade as a threat was a freight train trying to run you down. You could dodge it or maybe redirect it if you could see it coming, maybe. So long as Ophis herself didn't get involved in any actual fighting. The Death God? He was a shadow, hiding himself away and attacking only by proxy, his goals unknown, and his resources hidden. That made him more dangerous.

Unfortunately I don't know if Sirzechs agrees with me on that. He seemed utterly blindsided by the idea of Ophis being in this dimension at all, let alone being the one behind the Khaos Brigade. So much so he didn't seem to care about the Death God and the skeletons nearly as much as I think he should have been. Still, I know Sona sent a copy of my memories to her sister, so maybe if Sirzechs follows up on the threat of Ophis, that'll mean 'Levia-chan' will follow up on the Death God threat.

The pop of an incoming portkey broke Harry out of his thoughts and he stood upright, moving forward with a welcoming smile on his face, which widened into a real one when saw who the first person popping into being was. "Good morning Lady Himejima," he said, holding out his hand.

Suzaku Himejima disdained the hand, and pulled him into a light hug, before looking over at Loup, a small smile on her face as the other young man blushed, scratching at his nose. She smiled, and moved over to give him a hug in turn even as she addressed Harry.

"As part of the agreement between the Onmyodo government and the powers of the Kuoh prefecture, we have come to offer both numbers, and aid in return for training and magical knowledge," She said formally winking over at Harry. When she finished, she leaned against Loup's side, letting him move one arm around her waist.

Suzaku was a rather petite almost middle-aged woman, an inch or so shorter than Akeno but equally busty. Loup on the other hand was as tall as Harry in human form and a college age young man, so seeing them like this was an amusing dichotomy. Harry wasn't certain that these two were in a relationship, or if they were still at the flirting stage, but whatever the case, it was very obvious that Suzaku was in the driver's seat.

"As one of the leaders of the Kuoh alliance I formally welcome you into Kuoh and reiterate our agreement: we will learn and grow together, protecting one another from all foreign threats," Harry said equally formally, before looking at her in expectation as more pops were heard. "I was told to provide ten portkeys, and that there were a few experts coming in, on Onmyodo runes and ritual-style magic?"

"Well, for that second question, that would be me," Suzaku said pointing at her face with a giggle. "As Himejima clan head, I am an expert in rituals, as well as having a bit of knowledge at least specifically about summoning rituals, calling upon other-dimensional creatures, what most would call gods and suchlike. We have another two experts in magical combat, and the use of seals in combat as well coming in, although they will demand the chance to start learning European wizard style combat right away."

She turned, looking around as more people arrived. "That'll be those two over there," she said, nodding to a pair of middle-aged men. They were dressed in formal kimonos but looked fit and tough looking. As they turned to look at Harry he saw they also had a certain look in their eyes which he recognized as that of veteran soldiers.

He nodded to the men and they nodded back, moving to clasp hands with him as Suzaku went on. "We also have about six families and fourteen young men and women who are unattached who wish to be in on things from the ground up, so to speak, although only nine of them are with us today." Suzaku said counting them off with her finger as each popped in. "The six families all have young children still in elementary or middle school and will be in a follow on group." Suzaku then leaned in, whispering, "Most of those are families of men or women who fell in the defense of Kuoh. Many want to move on, too many memories in their old houses, or other issues of a similar manner."

Harry smiled at the crowd, holding up a hand for silence as the children in particular had begun to talk to one another. "First of all, have you all been able to finding housing?" Harry asked.

Once warned that there were people who wanted to move into Kuoh right away Harry, Rias and Sona had talked about that. After all, this was Japan, and housing was a premium practically everywhere on the islands. Rias had in turn reached out to one of Akeno's tea ceremony clients, who happened to own an apartment complex, while Sona worked with Tsubaki to buy up a few houses which were on sale, turning them over to a few of the more needy families. They had also both begun to work with Yasaka to prepare similar arrangements for if, or rather when, Youkai started to move into the area too.

So when a few of the unattached men and women said they hadn't yet thought that far ahead, assuming they could just stay in hotels as they looked, Harry handing over the man's contact information, stating, "Tell them Gremory-san sent you and they'll give you a discount. As for the families here, if you need help getting your kids acclimatized to the local schools, my daughters Lily and Kunou go to Kuoh Elementary. Both are very friendly and will help you get settled in. Teddy Lupin goes to the same school in a higher grade and can also be counted on."

"Beyond, that, are there any questions?" Harry asked. After fielding a few questions about the wards, where they could set up their own wards so as to practice magic, and numerous requests for maps and questions about jobs and such like, one of the two combat experts asked, "Have you decided on a location for the school?"

Everyone around him instantly started to listen in and Harry nodded. "Rias and I are in the process of buying out the land where one of our runic foundations is, we feel that'll be a good place for it." That was in fact the nearby adult toy store and the rest of this very block, but Harry didn't mention that at the moment. "In terms of areas already sourced out to training, we have a training center for full scale combat in the basements of the occult research club, and Tonks will be exchanging lessons in magical combat in a dojo Sona-san recently purchased for our use."

The combat experts, and many of the younger men and women, all nodded eagerly at that and Harry moved on. Now if there aren't any more questions, me and my lovely assistant Loup will start showing you around." The light laughter his small joke received and the lack of further questions announced the newcomers were ready as well, and he gestured them out of the parking lot into the street beyond.

Over the month of February more Onmyouji arrived. With Suzaku helping, Akeno and Tsubaki, as senior representatives of the Kuoh Alliance, helped each group get settled in turn. Tonks and Harry helped out as well, while Rias and Sona worked the non-magical system, getting the kids into the schools and helping the parents or single men and women to find jobs on the nonmagical side. At the same time, Tsubaki and Kala, who had respectively stepped up as the organizer and chief researcher on the magical side and Harry met with Suzaku every evening, for a few hours to discuss the rituals they had done, as well as what the effects had been, both those they had aimed for and those they hadn't seen coming.

Unfortunately for Harry, Suzaku too was somewhat bemused by what Harry was describing. "A secondary source, somewhere out there reacting to when you and Yubelluna-san use your powers? I'm sorry, but this whole issue about you being a demigod and able to call up more powers, I can't understand it… the only thing I can think of is some kind of, of phantasmal residue left over from Manannán Mac Lir's pantheon."

"What do you mean phantasmal residue?" Harry asked confused, along with Yubelluna, who had joined them for this discussion, and Tsubaki, the latter's eyes narrowing behind her glasses. Although if that was because of the conversation, or because she was glaring at Suzaku's chest in barely disguised envy, Harry couldn't tell. Kala looked as if the phrase was familiar to her, but she had no idea where the busty woman was going with this.

In reply, Suzaku stood up, and moved to one side of the shrine's back patio, where they were currently meeting. She had instantly moved in here, along with two maids and four other members of her extended family, taking over the shrine maiden's duties with the ease that of long practice.

Harry had anticipated this would cause issues on the nonmagical side of things, since the temple was a local tourist site. But Suzaku had been open about what was going on, and the news that the temple had been bought and was currently being renovated by a Shinto priestess – which Suzaku was – had actually gone over very well with the local population. Now she and her fellows were slowly removing the spell which had kept Harry and Tonks's previous work on the temple hidden from the nonmagicals to make it seem as if they were slowly refurbishing it.

Turning back toward them Suzaku held up seal in one hand while her other hand moved in a series of gestures, as she intoned several words in Japanese, a mantra of some long incantation that ended with a crack as a giant bird made of fire and lightning appeared behind her. It was huge, standing there on its claws it loomed over the Himejima clan leader, its beak almost as long as her body. It was shaped like a heron, a long sinuous neck and wide wings on a small body, but it had the tail feathers of flame and lightning and its eyes were blue pools of fire as it looked around.

It then bent its neck to Suzaku as she reached up and begin and scratched at its fiery chin as if it was a living bird. "This is the sacred beast the Vermillion Bird, the sacred beast that my family can call upon, she said simply. It is one of only three remaining fragments of the Sun goddess Amaterasu. They are remnants, pieces of the goddess left behind when the original died, during a series of mystical conflicts with Taoism, the Christian religion and Buddhists."

She shook her head with a faint sigh. "Ironic that, since Toaism and Buddhism has been sort of absorbed and changed by the Shinto faith here in Japan, but the faith has survived while the gods and goddesses that make it up have not." The Vermillion bird beside her unsummoned itself since there was nothing for it to do at the moment here brought Suzaku back from her musing on that point. "At any rate, given how you describe these Hallows they were something similar, but far larger, imbued with far more of a specific gods powers than the Vermillion Bird, but less of his personality. But when gods die they leave behind pieces like this occasionally, which can have specific powers or abilities, and more often a phantasmal residue of their power. That residue can be absorbed by their killers, which is what I believe happened when the god Yahweh started to rise in prominence."

She looked at Kala who just nodded. "Yes, God became stronger as we spread our Faith taking believers and power from other Faiths. The Greek and Roman pantheons, who were already in the process of amalgamating into one, were the first to be defeated. The Zoroastrians lasted longer, but they were falling to his power too when I Fell. You'd have to ask an Archangel for more information on those campaigns or his later ones though. I know he defeated the Tuatha De Danan and Ireland has since become a bastion of Catholic faith, but can't tell you any details, sorry."

"But going by what you're saying you think that didn't happen when the Tuatha De Danan died?"

"It would explain there being a kind of external source of power Harry and you can call upon when you pray," Suzaku said teasingly.

"But what about the visions Lily has been seeing? Where do they come into things?" Harry asked. Rias and he had sat down with Lily and explained more about Manannan Mac Lir and his pantheon, but that hadn't helped Lily explain her weird dreams any better. Not knowing why the little girl was seeing such and Harry and Yubelluna weren't, Rias had created a mental defense array based on her devil power, fearing that Harry's magic could itself be the conduit for these visions. Since then Lily hadn't seen more. "And why don't I feel this power responding when I use my 'godly powers' on my own?" Harry asked, making air quotes about the term.

"That's an easy one. Rituals are stronger the more people take part in them. Two points of worship or connection would be stronger than one," Suzaku said. "But how best to utilize it, how to do so in a controlled manner, I can't tell you. Nor can I tell you about the visions. The only thing there that I could think is if perhaps Lily, as your daughter, is also connected to the pantheon, and is seeing the images of where this phantasmal residue remains in this world? It's the only explanation I have; though it does have a few holes in it I'm afraid."

"I am getting used to being told that kind of thing unfortunately," Harry said with a shake of his head. "My so-called familiar is unable to tell me anything about it either, despite herself having once been called a goddess."

Suzaku nodded. Harry's demonstration of power over the veil between life and death had a most remarkable effect among Onmyouji who had been there. Many of them were wondering if he was some kind of new God and should thus be approached and prayed to. Others were wary, as all right thinking people should about someone who could call the dead back to life. Necromancy was after all, a taboo almost every magical society agreed upon, and given how different those magical societies were, that was rather amazing in and of itself. Still, the majority of the reactions had been positive ones.

"Dragons have always been something different entirely to Gods though," Kala said addressing the rest of what Harry had said and at the same time making Harry remember for the second time in as many minutes, how old she is despite not seeming any older than a college-aged woman. "Historically speaking, dragons have been a completely separate power structure from Gods and the faiths which built up around them. Dragons don't need it; their power comes from who and what they are. Dragons are sort of like those creatures in that annoying Dragon Ball Z show, the ones with the tails. They grow stronger as they battle and age. After a certain point Gods must take their power from faith."

"Exactly," Suzaku replied. "That is why I say this secondary power source is coming from a remnant of some kind. But I have to ask, has it really been an issue before this? Surely the added power actually has helped you."

"Yes and no, it's just that it's not under our control. If this power is just, hanging out there, who's to say it's really under our control? Who's to say we're the only ones using it? Since these visions my daughter is seeing come from it, then could an enemy somehow use it to send magic through?"

"Ah… to that, I unfortunately have no answer," Suzaku said with a sigh. "You would have to visit the UK and Ireland, examine the bits and pieces of heritage left behind by the Tuatha De Danan to find more."

"We already have plans in place for that, it's just a question of timing and who all is going," Harry said with faint eye roll. "After all we can't all go, that would just be silly. And overkill in dealing with a few other problems brewing at home."

Suzaku looked at him quizzically at that, but Harry turned the attention over to Tsubaki, who hastily gulped down a bite of the tasty pastries Kala had made for this meeting. After clearing her throat the bespectacled queen asked, "You said you were an expert on rituals? Arithmetically, what is the proper number to build upon a preexisting ritual-enchantment mix with five stabilization points?"

OOOOOOO

Nor were the Onmyouji the only newcomers coming into Kuoh that week. The Youkai who Yasaka had told Harry wanted to move into Kuoh began to do so that same week the first of February, again despite the fact it would be a year or more before the school was built. Indeed, for many, being in on something like that from the ground up was part of the charm. Hearing that, Harry was puzzled that no more Devils had come forward with requests to move into the territory, but Rias and Sona explain how entering the territory claimed by another clan was a big deal even if your family was allied with one of the clans in question, let alone if you were not. Then too, the word about Harry's school idea, which was so fascinating to the Onmyouji and to the Youkai Association, had not spread among the Devils yet.

"Really?" Harry had asked, cocking an eyebrow when he heard that. "I would've thought you told your siblings about it during that meeting you had when I was off with Kiba and the others or when you passed on my memories of that mission."

"I would have, if I wanted my sister to stick her nose into my business, as I don't particularly," Sona applied tartly "I did not mention it very deliberately because I can very easily picture her wanting to show up and become the mascot of the school of some such nonsense."

"It's much the same for me I'm afraid," Rias admitted. "Oh, I'm not blind to the fact that Nii-sama could be a big help but with him helping me, there's always this line where he goes from helpful, to just sort of taking it over and doing everything he thinks I want to. That's a problem with having Siscons for older siblings."

Sona gestured vaguely towards the east. "Oh we both intend to get them involved when it comes to actually building the school itself. At that point, they can help with the construction project and even empowering any further enchantments or creating any internal bounded fields needed inside the school."

"And," Rias added, "my brother has people in his peerage who are actually quite good teachers if we can get them interested. That would be a huge help. But that's a ways in the future. At this point if any of them came in, they'd simply try to take over, and that wouldn't sit well with the Onmyouji, whom we want fully aboard in all this considering that this school is going to teaching their magical style as well."

Regardless, many of the Youkai did want to move into Kuoh. Of course, the Youkai Association didn't really stop people moving away from Kyoto, but it was highly uncommon for them to do so. There were always people from the various Youkai groups who wanted to live among humans for various reasons but those who could be trusted to do so were few and far between. And there was always space in the area of Kyoto that the Youkai Association already ran or directly nearby for those people.

But it was the interest in the school, in learning new magical styles that drew them. They would be at the heart of something, the heart of creating a place where numerous different types of magic were brought together and learned, growing all the while.

"That's the thing," Yasaka said, as she stood in front of the teleportation array on the floor of her mansion with Harry, Rias and Asia, the only member of his family who could get away from her other duties of schoolwork at the moment. "When one type of magic society has interacted with another one will either take over, as was attempted by the Onmyouji when it came to the Association, or in World War II when the Onmyouji and the Chinese went to war, and then when the Onmyouji fought the Americans and European wizards and lost horribly. Youkai and humans becoming Devils or joining the Fallen is much the same: their societies absorb and replace those individuals magic, with their own. They make use of our unique talents, but they don't learn them.

The two of them had talked about this with Rias and Sona. There were numerous areas of magic where the Youkai Association was, to put it simply, better than even the Onmyouji or European wizards let alone the three factions. Who, as Harry put it were brute force monsters. Much of that magic had to do with plant life, with the kind of stuff that Yubelluna could do as a Druid. Illusion magic was another area, which Harry and Yasaka had spent hours upon hours talking about, refining his own illusion magic, to the point where Yasaka felt it was 'acceptable, if barely'. Their wards were nothing to sneeze at although they lacked the subtlety of the wizard type, or the power of the Devils fallen Angels and church variety. Their direct combat magic was abysmal, though many Youkai made up for this in having specific combat magic based around what kind of youkai they were.

"You have no idea," Yasaka went on as the other doors opened, and one of her servants walked in. The servant, a Kappa, bowed towards her, and she nodded at him signaling he should lead the travelers in, before turning back to Harry. "You have no idea how many magical styles and societies which have disappeared over the centuries, overcome by others. This school could perhaps bring some of those lost magic back, or push ahead to new horizons."

"I'm beginning to get that impression yes," Harry said dryly, looking down at his own hand, and suddenly holding Fragarach as he gave Yasaka a droll look.

Yasaka smiled at that sheepishly, and was about to say that yes, she supposed that that had sounded a bit pompous when the doors reopened, and the people who are going to be transferring into Kuoh. Many of them were young, already in their human guise, but others were not, and Harry blinked at the sheer number of different types of Youkai he saw, many of whom Harry hadn't seen before. Nor had Rias, if her blinking in surprise was an indication.

One such group had four arms, blue fur, with the men having red manes to go with lion-like faces. The womenfolk had tiger-like faces and four arms as well, but their bodies, like those of the men, looked human. Her kids were just adorable, pushing and shoving at one another, seven of them, all young, with three perhaps around Teddy's age and the others older. There were a few Cow Youkai – the local equivalent of Grecian Minotaurs - like the woman who worked as a go-between the nonmagical and magical side of things. Two Tengu looking very nervous brought up the back of the crowd. A number of Monkey Youkai, and several horse Youkai too.

Looming above the rest of the crowd was surprisingly one of the advisers that Yasaka had brought with her to the ceremony for the dead after the battle in Kuoh. But Harry hadn't met him formally then, being too busy with other things at the time, and only now really understood how big the guy was. And he was big. Even if had transformed into my werewolf form I t think he'd have a good foot or more on me Harry thought, staring at the large man as he made his way forward.

He was also extremely old, his body covered with wrinkles and he moved with the sort of ponderous dignity that only came with age, having nothing whatsoever to do with his actual size which was definitely eye catching in itself. It was as if someone had merged a sumo wrestler with someone of Hagrid's size, he was that large. He had a beard falling down his chest, neatly combed, and a few dark brown tattoos visible on his forearms thanks to wearing a T-shirt, and long, Indian style pants. He had a few golden earrings, and he wore a pair of spectacles.

"Oh, Master Kandula," Asia said, clapping her hands as she too spotted the man. "Are you going to be moving into Kuoh as well?"

Many of the other Youkai looked at her in surprise, but the big man simply smiled, and moved through the others, who parted before him respectfully. "Ah, little Asia, how are you doing?" the man asked, his voice creaky with age, but deep, a sort of basso rumble to make trained singers weep.

"I'm quite well, thank you, but how is your arthritis doing?" She looked at him quizzically. "If it's come back I could probably do a better job now thanks to my Twilight Healing evolving."

The man, who was the Elephant Youkai Yasaka had mentioned to Harry, stared at her in surprise. "Evolved, how?"

To that, Asia simply held out her hands, and her Sacred Gear appeared. Instead of silver looking rings, the elephant Youkai saw Asia wore bracelets on either wrist that gleamed red and gold, like a flame hammered into a bracelet on which a single diamond stood out in the center, the sides of which gleamed with all the colors of the rainbow. "I've been thinking of calling it Dawn Healing now," She said shyly.

The Elephant Youkai leaned down, examining the bracelets closely before straightening up with some difficulty nodding his head as he leaned on his cane, a large, metal reinforced thing which looked as if it would do as a weapon with ease. "That is amazing young Asia. I have very rarely heard of a Sacred Gear becoming more powerful, the normal process is called Balance Breaker. But this, this is something else entirely… truly amazing!"

He then shook his head. "But no I do not require more of your healing, save it for those who require it more than I. Indeed, I have not felt so good in years child, your aid was magnificent, and is partly why I am well enough to move away from my current domicile."

"Harry Potter, of House Potter be known to Master Dutugamunu Kandula, Rune and Ward Master," Yasaka said proudly, gesturing to the elephant Youkai with one hand, and ruffling Asia's brown and blond locks with the other.

As she did, Master Kandula bowed his head along with the kappas, while everyone else there bowed towards her. This was unusual for the laid-back Youkais, but it was a sign of the deep respect that they held for Yasaka. And it was not just because of her position. The Association after all was just that: a collection of a lot of disparate groups that all too often were too different to really get along. Indeed to call the Youkai which made up the Association freewheeling, rambunctious and often violently opposed to one another was to put it mildly. Yasaka's leadership rested more on her own strength of personality and willpower more than most kings or noble-born ever did.

Yasaka turned toward her, winking as if she understood what Rias was thinking at that moment, before she went on speaking to Harry. "This old irascible fool has asked to move into Kuoh, and despite his importance to the Association as a Rune Master, I've decided to allow this. Primarily, because he basically told me that he would be moving regardless of my own wishes on the matter, but that's neither here nor there," she ended teasingly.

"Your wards were fascinating to feel when we were there for the funeral, and yet there is room for improvement I think," the Rune Master said bluntly. "I'd have to look at the schemes to be certain, but I think you missed a few tricks, or a few tricks could be added. With runes as you should know it is a very thin line. And frankly, while rank amateurs like yourself and those young Devil girls may have gotten lucky, there's nothing that can overcome trial and error of a master.

While Rias scowled, Harry kept a lid on his temper, trusting that Kala, Tsubaki and himself would be able to prove their bonafides to this old arse. "We're always willing to learn," Harry said with a smile. "I think that in point of fact sort of should be our motto going forward."

The old elephant nodded, smiling at that response. "Good, because I am almost certain, that I could make those wards even stronger…" he paused then, looking as if he was sucking on a lemon. "…Not any more responsive. That aspect, I'm not certain even I could pull off." He went on more brusquely, moving past that admission quickly. "But I think strength certainly. We'll be working on an entirely new extended schema I think, but again I'd want to look at the information first. Rituals and runes are tricky to mix, but if you do it right you can create magnificent effects. And if you are able to bring in more magical styles the effects can become greater every time.

Harry simply nodded his head, deciding it was time to lay down the law a bit. "We'll work with you but don't think that just because you are a Rune Master that we will give you carte blanche to change anything we want. Those runes and those arrays were created over a period of months and then changed again later on, after we worked out what worked, what had to be added, and what we had to change to make them better. Your input is one thing, your demands to command or simply order us about another. We are not amatuers whatever you might think."

The Rune Master's eyes narrowed, but he slowly nodded. "Very well, indeed, I will work with you and these others Harry Potter. So long as none of you are complete incompetents or nitwits, as far too many of my students have proven to be over the centuries."

"Centuries?" Harry queried.

Yasaka coughed delicately. "Dutugamunu has chased off seven of his students over the time I've known him, including his own son. Most Youkai tend to live a lot longer than humans do, but Kitsune and elephant Youkai are among the most long-lived. And thank you Harry for not asking me my own age, she thought. The fact she was actually more than two hundred years old was something she had hinted at occasionally, but Harry had never evinced any interest in asking her age or anything similar, and she was more than happy to leave it at that.

"I was young when the British came, and pushed us out of our ancient territories in India. Their non-magical kind treated our non-magicals as if they were second-class, as if they were beasts rather than men, so too did the magicals hunt many of us for parts for their cursed wands and wizard staffs. I remember when that slowly faded, when they finally started to realize that we too were sentient and tried to give us back what they had taken in the first place, as if they were doing us a favor! I remember leaving, I remember the wars, both world wars in the magical and nonmagical worlds," the elephant Youkai currently wearing a human form said with a shrug.

He then looked at Harry and Rias shrewdly. "I remember much, but in all that time Harry Potter, do you know what I do not remember, what I have never seen?" He flicked a large finger towards Yasaka, and then Rias, then Harry and finally bestowed a smile on Asia. "I have never seen magical societies willing to learn from one another without conquest, without violence. Your school will have long-reaching consequences, far more I think than even you realize. You will force magic to evolve, as young Asia's amazing gift has already. That is what I want Harry Potter. That is what I wish to be a part of. I will deal with all but the most inane imbeciles to be a part of that."

"I know," Harry said simply, looking over at a beaming Yasaka and feeling Rias silently take his hand in hers. "I intended it to have long-reaching consequences. I know that the Onmyouji keep up with science and technology, but to say it bluntly, eventually, science and technology are going to find the various magical societies. I know for a fact that they have already discovered what my people call the Wizarding World. And it's only a matter of time before they discover the other societies in some fashion."

"And in many ways technology has already surpassed magic. After all, it wasn't magic that put people on the moon, but science," Rias said. The two of them had talked about this before and both wanted to see magic push its 'known boundaries'. "It is science which has pushed past the boundaries of the upper atmosphere, not magic. And in many ways, the clothes we wear, the fashions we follow, all of that comes from the non-magical world. If we're not willing to admit that, if we're not willing to see that magic needs to change, and our societies with it, we are in danger of being left behind."

"I refuse for magic to be left behind," Harry said simply squeezing Rias's hand in his. "I want magic to grow, and to do that, we need to continue to learn from one another, not fight amongst ourselves."

Master Kandula smiled at that, nodding his head. "In that case Harry Potter, you have your first teacher here," he said, thumping his chest with a massive hand that looked as if it could crush a normal man's head. "But with that attitude, I doubt I'll be the last."

"In that case," Harry said with a smile. "I welcome you all to Kuoh, and I hope you enjoy your lives there."

OOOOOOO

If anyone from Kuoh Academy had asked Harry and the others what they spent the most time on in February, that individual would have been astonished that it would not be schoolwork. Indeed, schoolwork, as opposed to being at school, was barely in their top five of time-consuming activities.

Training was number two, taking up three hours every day during the week and seven hours every Sunday, when Sirzechs or Serafall would stop in to help train them. For Kiba, Mittelt, Loup and most of Sona's peerage it was even worse, since once they were done with individual training, they would head to Kyoto to fight Youkai there under Yasaka's instructions or with Tonks and Master Husukai with the Shinsengumi who had moved into Kuoh and those Youkai who also wanted to fight for their new homes.

Beyond that of course, Harry, Rias and Sona integrated the newcomers into the magical wards, made rules for their local community and generally speaking made these newcomers feel welcomed and part of the community. Nor were they the only newcomers to be so integrated, because as February began and Dutugamunu and his fellows started work on examining the runic arrays, Harry was pulled from overseeing this activity to meet Gasper, the last member of Rias's peerage.

Lily, Koneko and Kunou raced ahead of Harry, Rias and Mittelt down the long corridor. "Is this all really necessary?" Mittelt asked, as she looked around. "I'd heard about how powerful your last bishop is, but this seems a bit much."

"It depends, how powerful do you think the ability to stop, restart and slow time is?" Rias asked tartly. She sighed, shaking her head as she stared ahead of them. "I wish I could have done a better job of trying to integrate him, of trying to teach them how to control his powers, but at the time, I was only ten, and my own power wasn't enough to help stabilize his. Now that's no longer the case thankfully."

Smiling faintly Harry put an arm around Rias's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Well, you're reaching out to him now, that's all that really matters. And it isn't as if he was totally cut off from human contact. Those games he likes to play with Koneko and the others, the online discussions and so forth will have gotten him used to speaking and communicating with others at least."

"Maybe, but I'm afraid letting him remain a shut-in as I have will have also reinforced his eccentricities," Rias replied with a sigh.

Eccentricities?" Mittelt asked.

"You'll see. In fact that's why I wanted you with us Mittelt. We might need your expertise with clothing here."

"Now you've got my attention," Mittelt said with a grin.

Harry blinked as they came to a doorway, which was covered from one side to another with Ankhsera script. "All right, this is a little much isn't it?"

"Harry, your people created stopwatches that could rewind time. Your idea of what that actually means is grossly out of sync with the rest of the world," Rias said mock-sweetly as they joined the kids in front of the door.

As they did, Koneko was speaking through the door to someone on the other side. "Come on, you've met them both before."

"Y, yes," said a tremulous voice from the other side. It was a young voice, that was for certain, although just by hearing it, Harry felt he would have been hard-pressed to say what gender the speaker was. But despite sounding so fearful, Gasper was able to at least speak in complete sentences and not stutter over much. "But that wasn't in person! That was through games, where I could stay in my box, and they could stay where they are, and we wouldn't see each other for real! But this will be in person. In person is scary! I like being alone, I like my boxes, I like the dark."

"But you don't really," Koneko said shaking her head. "If you did, you wouldn't always like to play those RPG games where you're exploring the world. You wouldn't always choose a bard or a warrior who can get along with everyone."

"But those are games! They're not real."

"You're right. But real is better," Koneko replied. "You can't get hugs in games."

"Sure you can! There are games which have romance in them; they're great for that kind of thing."

"I don't think that I want you to talk about those kinds of games in front my daughters all right? Harry said, interrupting the back and forth as he rested a hand on Koneko's head, rubbing at her scalp and ears. "Even if Koneko seems to know about them already," He said, looking down at the cat girl with a suddenly gimlet glare.

She shook her head, although not enough to dislodge his hand. "Those are romance games, not erotic games. There's a difference."

Harry's eyebrows rose but he nodded. "Hmm, well, I still would like veto power on any such game that you were let Lily and Kunou around. Asia can decide on her own though." And maybe she'll be able to experience dating without actually experiencing it. That would be fantastic to my mind.

As Harry had been talking, Rias had been running her finger along the runic array in specific spots, deactivating it as she went. Now, the wards fell around this room, and she pushed the door open. "Hello, Gasper?"

There was a shuffling from the dark, and a squeaky voice wailed, "Rias-sama?! No, I'm not ready, this isn't… I'm not ready for this!"

"If we all waited to be ready for something, we would miss out on a large portion of our lives," Rias replied stepping into the darkness beyond, one arm moving to the side of the doorway. She found a light switch and a second later lights came on. They were dim, set into each corner, and only giving about as much light as you would find under a bridge on a cloudy day, but it was more than enough to see the extremely plain room by, and more than enough for the so-called vampire they were here to squeal, and bolt towards another doorway on the far side.

Koneko raced to block him, saying "None of that Gasper!" But then Harry felt something happen, and suddenly the door was slamming shut, and Koneko was still only halfway to it.

"That was interesting," Harry said with a nod. "His time freeze I believe?"

"Yes," Rias said with a sigh. "Now you see how dangerous his ability can be." With that, Rias moved up to the other door, knocked on it and said in as kindly a voice as she could, "Gasper you don't have to be afraid, we're here to meet you in person. You don't have to come outside today if you don't want to, but I want to formally introduce you to Harry, and I think Lily and Kunou want to meet their gamer playmate."

Lily took this opportunity to march up to the door and push it open without even pausing, causing Rias to nearly lose her balance as she had been leaning against it. "Hello!" Lily shouted in a loud voice. There was a squeal and the sound of running from inside as Lily went on, with Kunou joining her. "Ooh wow you're fast, but I like the dress. The box though is a little weird."

"I know it you see I can't get along with people, I like being inside my box!" Gasper shouted.

But Lily went on overriding his shout as if he hadn't said anything. "I like to see the face of the person I'm talking to."

"No!" the box shouted as Harry looked inside.

Crouching down in a corner was a small cardboard box, which was currently shivering. What little of him could be seen seemed to be wearing a dress or robe, Harry wasn't certain witch. Kunou and Lily were kneeling in front of him, with Kunou feeling the ham of his dress.

Koneko moved forward, reaching over the two's shorter girls, putting her hands to either side of the box and pulling it away quickly. "That's enough of Mister Box; we want to talk to Mister Gasper."

"Gah!" Gasper flinched, his pinkish eyes widening.

But before she could do anything, Lily was in her his face, staring brightly. "Wow, you really are pretty for a boy!"

Kunou started to poke his cheek with her fingers, and then took both her hands and began to pull on his cheeks. "For some reason, that makes me a little annoyed."

Mittelt too leaned over the two shorter girls, whistling. Gasper was a very slight, thin youth with a completely androgynous body. Holy crap, he really does look like a girl. Heck, take away the hair Lily would look more like a boy than him. He had platinum blond hair and pinkish-violet eyes. His hair was styled in short bob cut with several small fringes over his forehead, which did nothing to help with making him look like a boy. Of course, if he had an issue with that he shouldn't be dressed in a dress. Especially not a frilly little number like that. "Who did your tailoring? That looks pretty decent, but it's obviously a little too big on you."

"Stop!" Gasper groaned. "People are scary!"

"Scary," Lily said "How can you be scared of Kunou! She's not a foxy monster, she's a hug monster."

"You say that is if you're not one," Kunou said with a laugh, pushing her best friend in the shoulder.

Lily giggled too, and then reached forward, and wrapped her slim-looking arms around Gasper. Before the taller boy could protest, she was standing up, and lifting him up onto his feet. He blinked at that, looking down at her. Seeing that Lily pouted. "I've told you I'm a werewolf. Didn't you believe me?"

"W, well seeing and hearing are two different things," the boy mumbled, looking away and poking his fingers together.

"Gasper, we've come with more food for you, and we want you to join us outside for the day. You don't have to if you're not feeling up to it, but that just means will be back tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. Every day after school we'll be down here," Rias said, not unkindly but still somewhat sternly. "Because I was so weak at the time, we couldn't handle the power of your Sacred Gear. Now I am stronger, and I know how to train you to be in control of your powers."

She moved forward and as Lily set Gasper o the futon in the center of the room, she sat down next to the extremely girly looking boy, putting an arm around him and drawing him into a hug. He stiffened at the contact, and then sort of melted against it, sighing and mumbling against her chest.

Lily nodded. "Yep, Rias gives good hugs!" Even Kunou nodded at that one, although she personally of course felt her mother made gave better ones. She wasn't going to have that argument with Lily again though. It was pointless.

"I realize you need to be alone sometimes but hiding you away like this is just not the best way forward for either of us. If you want to have a quiet room to yourself in the boy's apartment, or even if you want to continue to live down here, that's fine, although we will renovate the place. But we need to train you to get a better handle on your powers, and you need to start getting used to being around other people again."

"Wow, that was impressive," Kunou whispered. Lily nodded too, staring at Rias. She hadn't seen the stern mother type from Rias often, but it was actually kind of scary how well she did it.

Harry nodded, reaching out to shake Gasper's hand. "Hello Gasper, I'm Harry, Rias's husband. Tell me, do you like the box because it blocks people from seeing you, or because you can hide yourself in it?"

"U, um, he, hello Potter-sama," Gasper replied, the hug calming him down enough to actually speak to these strangers somewhat. Besides, considering that Rias was holding onto his arms, that looked to be an impossibility anyway. The question made him think for a second too. "Umm, I think I like it more because it blocks people from seeing me. I mean, well, you know, a lot of people have problems with boys who like wearing dresses, and it makes things easier if I if people don't see me. I don't have to talk to them, or take part in anything."

"True, but as Rias just said you sometimes need to be able to interact with other people. However, I think between us," he said gesturing to Rias and himself "We could probably figure out a way to hide your features magically."

"But my box, Gasper said looking down at it forlornly. "I like my box."

"You'll like this too." Rias said squeezing him very lightly as she nuzzled into the top of his head.

"What I want to know is why the heck you're wearing a dress that looks like you took it from the Middle Ages? Is there some poor peasant waif back then missing her dress?" Mittelt said with an eyeroll. "I bet I could whip something up that looks better than that in five minutes."

"Prove it. Make a school uniform or something he can be seen in outside," Koneko said, moving to join her King in hugging Gasper. As she went, she pulled Lily and Kunou with her, smiling more openly than Gasper had ever seen. "Gasper, this is Lily and Kunou, my little sisters. Want to go to the sweet shop? Sweets make everything good."

OOOOOOO

Yet integrating Gasper was relatively straightforward: Harry and Rias delegated the job to Koneko, Asia, the kids, and, surprisingly, Issei. After trying to flirt with Gasper once and turning to stone upon realizing Gasper was a guy, Issei made it his life's work to "man him the bleep up! It's bad enough he's disturbingly cute, he can't just go around dressed like that and acting so girly! There will be more casualties like me if that happens, and as a pervert myself I can't allow that!"

But for Harry, Akeno, Tsubaki, Rias, Sona, and the others, there was something else that took up far more of their time even than training: adding more strength to the wards. With the Khaos Brigade being backed by Ophis, they knew there might come a time when their home was attacked by a force even more dangerous than the legion, and they refused to let their greatest tactical asset rest as it was, it had to be made better. And with Dutugamunu and his fellows, they had the minds to do it. Every day they spend hours in discussion on this point, pouring over the existing wards, studying every type of runic schemata they knew about, trying to figure out what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to do it.

And finally, near the end of February, indeed, two days before the end of it, which would be marked by Akeno's singing audition, their research bore fruit in a series of new runic arrays that could be conjoined to the existing ward pillars. Accompanying those was an entirely new, divinely powered ritual designed by Suzaku, Dutugamunu and Harry to move them deep within the earth when they were done.

Harry smiled as he looked at Kala, Tiamat, Dutugamunu and Asia, who was carrying a crystal filled to the brim with Lily and Kunou's magical powers. Walking the two little girls through how to fill it up had been a good exercise for them both and Harry had been impressed by how much basic magical power his daughter had.

The dragon-turned-woman was grumbling irritably, but seemed to only do it half-heartedly, looking around in interest. Harry was currently standing on the same pillar point that he had enchanted when they had moved the wards underground. Now, blocks of heavy granite were set up around him, ready to accept the runes that they would be creating soon.

Elsewhere, other groups were also waiting to begin their part of perhaps the largest ritual that had been attempted in the last forty years. Sans Tsubaki and Saji, Sona was with her peerage waiting on the roof of the now bought out adult toy store along with one of the runic apprentices.

Indeed, each of the pillar points was Dutugamunu or one of his four students. Harry had been introduced to each of them with the words, "They're not entirely incompetent, but they're not exactly brilliant either, a disappointment in many ways, but one works with what one has." The looks of long-suffering on the faces of the four students told Harry everything he needed to know about how high a standard Master Kandula had, but considering that they were playing with wards Harry wanted to have protect his family, he was fine with Dutugamunu being a perfectionist.

Two of Dutugamunu's apprentices had confided to Harry that they had actually even taken their examinations in the Onmyouji style, but they kept on coming back to their master, because there was always so much more to learn. He wasn't just a highly experienced runic master; he was something of a savant, always figuring out new and interesting ways to shift their understanding.

The apprentice with Rias had taken the position of Tonks, waiting with her peerage minus Akeno. Though in her case Rias also had a crystal in which Yasaka had injected her power. With Rias talking her through the process, she had filled a few crystals with her magic, as had Yubelluna, and those crystals had been given to Harry and Rias to use as part of the ritual they were going to be creating here.

It was the two queens who held the majority of those however, as well as having the majority of the people who had moved into the territory since the battle of Kuoh. Akeno had Tonks with her along with crystals for Yubelluna and Teddy. With Master Kandula's apprentice, a young Cow Youkai named Mikasa, she had been joined by her aunt Suzaku and one of the two kitsune who had moved into Kuoh.

Tsubaki and Saji were also ready. They were joined by Loup, Master Husukai, who had been one of the last Onmyouji to move into the area, another apprentice, another Shinsengumi, and a crystal Kala had put her own power in. In this manner, with her power entering the ritual from three points, she would be able to simulate three different Fallen being part of the ritual, with Mittelt being the third. This would add in Fallen style magic into the ritual which would then transpose itself into the wards, despite the fact both used the same runic language. Three was a magical number, as everyone knew.

It'd taken more than a month and a half to work out the arithmancy and the arrays to enlarge the power of the wards around Kuoh without damaging the ones they had already put up, but the Khaos Brigade had given them that month. Indeed, the world over, the Khaos Brigade had gone silent. According to reports passed to them by Sirzechs and the Gremory's own espionage efforts, the Khaos Brigade were concentrating on recruiting at this point, wanting to rebuild the numbers they had lost in the four months before this.

Harry tried to convince himself that was a good thing, with scant success. Everyone was waiting for the next shoe to drop. But part of what we're doing here is to make certain that if the shoe does fall, it'll fall somewhere else, lest it get a foot full of spikes.

This ritual, which was an expanded ritual based off the first one during which they had created the wards in the first place, was based on the power of five by seven by seven squared or forty nine. Five pillars, but with six additional sources of strength added to the one original at each point. The five gave the ritual stability, as they were simply adding to what was already done. Harry and the other four pillars of the original wards retained those positions, acting as conduits for the fellows around them.

With the power of Yubelluna's bandrui powers mixed in, thirty nine more newcomers would join their power into the ritual from a centralized location along with the kids, whose powers had indeed been mixed into the ritual to sink the wards into the ground. Six more would be acting as an orchestra and singers to go with Yubelluna, while the rest would join the party. They wouldn't be adding all that much to the magical power of the ritual, but every little bit would multiply over itself, creating a more powerful effect and aiding Harry's magic to bind it all together.

My magic, but controlled by Yubelluna and her violin.

OOOOOOO

Yubelluna smiled around at the Youkais and Onmyouji who had agreed to join this impromptu band with her. Several of them had proven to be quite adept but it had still taken several weeks for them to start to play together as one band. But now, was time to put on a show.

Dutugamunu, Tsubaki, Harry and the other researchers had determined that the best way to make certain that Harry's powers read spread evenly was to not just use the same wireless speaker setup as before but also to have Yubelluna and her band play in the direct center of the pentagram that the five pillars had created. Luckily, there was a park near that point that could be used, it was small; more of a football field and playground than anything else, but it would have to do.

The musicians had garnered some looks of interest when they started to show up, and that interest had quickly risen as they set up for their impromptu concert and more of the newcomers arrived. Lily and Teddy led most of the Youkai and Onmyouji kids out into the playing field, where they'd started to play soccer at first, then drifted back over to the band when they began to tune-up.

"Are we ready yet?" Kunou asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She hadn't joined the football game, preferring to stay by Yubelluna, trying to draw her face as the purple-haired woman tuned her violin.

Yubelluna winked at her, her bowstring raised, and pointing at Kunou. "I should be asking you that question, since you're going to be leading the dance."

The little fox girl blushed, but as Yubelluna began to play the song 'Fox Hunter' began.

Kunou look giggled having been told about the name of the song, as she began to lead the other kids into an impromptu dance that was more twisting, twirling and pouncing than an actual dance. But she did at do a few pirouettes in midair, so perhaps it could be called a kind of ballet?

Heh, mosh ballet dancing, Yubelluna thought, smiling at this as she continued to play, high striding around the small open area in front of the band, slowly getting lost in the music.

Nearby, one of the cat faced Youkais whispered into a phone. "We've started, get ready everyone."

OOOOOOO

With a nod, Harry began to reach out for his magic and felt the tug from Yubelluna almost instantly. It's true then that having her in a more central position is going to help even more than having the speakers carry the music, he reflected, as he raised his hands and began to move them in such a way as if he was carving out runic arrays in the air reaching down into the ground to the ward pillars, finding a few glowing runes there and pulling a strands of magic loose to be connected into the new magic being woven in the air above them.

At first, this ritual went pretty much the same as the others, Harry felt the tug from Yubelluna, asking him for his power, and then both of them felt the other power out there. Prepared for it, all of them reached for it more quickly now, as the magic of the music reverberated around the five pillars from the speakers.

Elsewhere Rias and the others also felt it, the call of the magic in the music coming through stronger, louder, joining their own parts of the ritual. The wound around each pillar then into the array, slowly opening doorways between the wards that were already there, and the magic of the new spells and wards that were going to be added in by the six people around them.

The crystals were the first to be used, each at the same time. Harry could barely concentrate enough to see Asia raising her hands containing Lily and Kunou's magical power. With a brief shout, Harry's most self-effacing daughter thrust the crystals up above her head and they began to glow, the magic within slowly siphoning into the existing enchantment.

Soon Harry could actually see the magic around him as the fog he had noticed in the first musically accompanied ritual spread out, wild with potential. Each kind of magical scheme was a different color as it joined with the fog. Yellow for the Onmyouji, the fog white for his own demigod powers, black for the Devils, red for the Fallen, purple for the demonic magic from Tiamat and then, he watched as blue was added in from the local Youkai, orange from the Onmyouji, and then green was coming from Master Kandula and his fellows where they stood on Hindu-style runic arrays, adding their own powers.

There had only been three colors before, despite the fact that there were five pillars, since Kala and Mittelt hadn't been part of that ritual, instead only helping out with Yubelluna's part of it. But now, both Fallen were involved. Indeed in the case of Kala, Harry could feel her nearby, working on her own portions of the runic arrays. He could even picture her in his mind, kneeling down as she worked on them, her fingers glowing with red magic, her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated. But as the ritual continued the impact of the enchantment slowly started to change even more, especially when the Hindu magic in the wards began to merge with the other magics.

Master Kandula hadn't told Harry where some of those runes had come from, but they were actually religious in purpose. They literally called upon a God for protection, as Yubelluna was doing with her music toward Harry. As with any such prayer, they could be replied to. And one Hindu God actually decided to do so at this time.

Harry felt it as another power source reached through those runes towards him, a consciousness. It brought to mind his battle with the will that had empowered the skeletons, an aura that blanketed out his own magic. He was gathering his will to fight it off in a millisecond, fearing what would happen to the wards and everyone in the ritual if he didn't, but a voice intoned in his head, flowing up his own magic into Harry's mind. "Wowa, dude, look at the colors!"

"…What?" Harry thought, all his worries suddenly disappearing into confusion. "Just what?" If he had to put a face to that voice, he would've put the someone who had just partaken in marijuana or some other equally mind altering substance. Not a god. Certainly not a god like the one he'd sensed behind the skeletons in the warehouse.

"Dude, the colors are amazing man, I've never even seen that color. Oh, Japanese wizards, huh? That's cool. But whaddarya doing dude, wha's the purpose of all this?

"…We're trying to raise power in order to strengthen the wards of our home territory," Harry said slowly, wondering what the heck was going on here, and if he should kick Master Kandula in the head a few times for doing this to him. What the hell did he do?! He never mentioned anything about those freaking runes being alive, or whatever this is. Could this really be a god? A god of hashheads?

"Oh don't think it's all Kandula's fault dude, you told him you are a demigod, he just didn't think that'd matter to us. But it seriously does with the way the world's get going all wig-shaped," the voice replied, still sounding upbeat and optimistic in an artist just taken a pull from a bong kind of way.

"Wig shaped," Harry drawled, getting his mental feet under him at last. "Really?"

"Really dude! Everything's getting' all screwed up, the fabric of the universe becoming like a ball of yarn after the kittens have been after it. Cute little critters thought. Old religions coming back, new faiths being questioned, and magic seeping into the world from elsewhere to. And all it's just because that big bromander Yahweh is dead and this Void Dragon's in the world now. It's enough to harsh my buzz man."

"Ahh. with his power, the god the Jews, Muslims and Catholics kept a lid on all that?"

"More like a cork in a bottle but yeah. And now all the magic within the bottle is like reacting like crazy thanks to different people inside rattling around. Magical progress goes fwooosh!"

Harry nodded internally. While the wording was…colorful, the voice was talking some sense. Harry had figured out much of that already going from his discussions with Rias and the others based on what that Death God had hinted at and what they had sensed. "And does that mean that you wish to partake of this ritual?"

"No man no, just wanted to know reach out and touch someone. I won't even add my power into the arrays if you don't want."

"Can you do so without actually being here, or without leaving a hole that someone else from your pantheon could use to get in?" Harry asked quickly. Having a God, no matter how much hophead he seemed to be, take part of the ritual would be great, adding an entirely greater level of power to them.

For a moment the god fell silent, and then it replied, its voice sounded a little more sober now. "Nah. I'll just give the okay for some of my power to be used through Dutugamunu and his followers. Although, you'll have to tell them for me, that his son Moji wants to see him, and he's a dick for not contacting him for twenty years.

"Harsh, did they have an argument or something?" Harry said, his own thoughts derailed by the idea of not seeing one of his children for twenty years.

"Nah, he's just forgetful like that, he just sort of forgot about his son."

"Right, adding that to my list of things to smack them upside the head for," Harry said.

"Righteous thought man. So I'll just let you go now, and you go do that voodoo, that you do so well!

With that the mind at other end of that strand of power receded, but not without leaving quite a bit of power behind to be used echoing in Harry's head. "The names Shiva baby, and remember Magic Man, the colors, the colors don't lie!"

End Chapter

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One of my patrons pointed out that Shiva isn't just the god of destruction but of Creation, the arts, preservation and a lot more, but that his personality was more stoner artist type than vengeful destroyer. I wish I could find the specific comment Wesley made, but the search function on patty on sucks ball sacks and I, stupidly, didn't save it to my computer. In any event, I was looking for a god who could at least be friendly towards Harry and co. and I decided to run with it since it amused me greatly. As does what I have planned for him.