A/N: Here we go with chapter two like I said at the end of the last chapter. I'm likely gonna avoid using A/N for the most part or remove them as I go but I just want to warn people now as we truly get started that the fic is a slow start and burn. I have no intentions of rushing anything and I will say I'm not sure how people will feel about the next few chapters because they're pretty different.

but there we go anyway let's go.


Chapter Two: Learning.

Shortly after breakfast was done and the two maids left the room leaving Issei once again alone. Taking a chance he tried the door the maids had come through to see if he was trapped or not and was mildly surprised to find it opened easily once he was able to work out the twist of the round knob with his small hands. Opening the door he found a simple hallway that lacked windows but was lit by odd candles, the flames burned an odd purple flame. Retreating back into the room, Issei first looked to the chandelier, finding it to be light in much the same way before he looked to the only other door in the room. The one beside his bed. Opening it in the same manner as the one the maid left through, Issei found a large bathroom roughly a third of the size of his room, most of the space being taken up but a bathtub and shower that could fit Issei in ten times. Taking a quick notice of the bathroom he quickly used it, surprised to find a stall beside the sink for him to reach the sink with which he was only slightly taller than. Exiting the bathroom Issei discovered Grayfia was true to her word as a small chest the same size as Issei rested to the left of the door. Opening the chest Issei found an assortment of toys which he promptly lost himself to the enjoyment of discovering each and every new object he had in his possession. This of course resulted in the much anticipated havoc Grayfia had predicted. Lost completely in the joys of being a young child time flew by and Issei jumped as the door opened unexpectedly, he was straight to his feet the toys around him forgotten as grayfia and her sister maid reentered the room. A knowing smile rested on Grayfia's face as she spoke. "Having fun, are we?"

Issei looked around the room, a look of guilt forming on his face as he noticed the mess he had caused. His mother wasn't a fan of mess and his father had often been firm when it came to following his mother instructions, never mean or unkind towards their child but wishing to keep high standards and practices, so Issei was used to tidying up after himself. Opening his mouth to apologise with promises to clear it all away before he ate. He was forestalled by Grayfia as she held up her hand. Looking to her right, her companion nodded once in understanding before finishing placing the meals on the table from the food cart and moving to collect the toys. "Yuno will clean away the clutter well you join me for Dinner and a talk but I do hope you don't start to take advantage of poor Yuno in the coming days, as she will be at hand. Should you need her, simply open the door and call to her and she will come to fill your request…within reason."

Issei shook his head no, having no intentions of taking advantage of the maid. Already deciding he would try to be ready next time Grayfia arrived with food, Her last comment however confused him so he chose to ignore it. it wasn't until he was much older he would understand the meaning behind her words. On that day he had shuddered. Not because she wasn't desirable but because it had simply felt wrong. Taking his seat once again facing Grayfia, he looked over the food that had been placed on the table; it seemed like a simple pasta dish in a red sauce with bits of white meat mixed in. Grayfia nodded once taking a mouthful of her own food as an example and Issei began eating, finding chicken and tomato flavours mixed in with the pasta. He ate politely but quickly as hunger took over. All the while Grayfia asked questions and or prompted Issei to talk about things between bites of food until the plates were cleared and the room was tidy. Rising to her feet Grayfia collected the dishes, placing them on the cart before saying her farewell to Issei who thanked her in return which brought a smile as she led the way out of the room, Yuno following behind. Issei lowered himself from the table moving slowly towards the chest his stomach still full and satisfied as he found a single toy to play with until he felt sleepy where he returned the toy to the chest and headed into bed having not changed from the bed robes he had awoken in.

The next day Issei had awoken, gotten dressed and was waiting on the Sofa when Grayfia entered the room with Yuno both quickly setting to the task of unloading the food tray of its burdens. Issei approached cautiously. Hungry but not wanting to get in anyone's way, when the maid settled everything down, Grayfia sat down with Yuno standing behind her while Issei sat to eat, finding cold meats and bread instead of pasties. Slightly disappointed Issei still enjoyed the odd breakfast and talking softly with Grayfia who continued to ask numerous questions before she and Yuno packed up to leave Issei alone. He then entertained himself with a mild amount of havoc taking place along the room's floor but he made sure to be cleared and away and waited long before Grayfia entered the room. A look of surprise on her face, clearly having expected a familiar scene to the day before. Yet she didn't comment as she assisted Yuno with the cart which this time held bowls that held soup along a side of bread. Once all three were in their unusual position the talks began. The three continued this pattern for six more days, each breakfast and dinner different than the last.

On the seventh dinner Grayfia gave Issei a sad smile. "This will be our last meal for sometime. Teachers have been arranged for you though you will only know one of them for the time being, you will be spending your meals Yuno alone. You will also have a lot less time to play as the teacher we have selected will be spending a lot of time with you but I'm sure you will still enjoy yourself to some degree. Yuno will continue to serve you. She will also be joining you and your teacher's lessons ready to be of service when needed." Issei nodded, Grayfia had been kind but she hadn't been around much so Issei doubted he would miss her too much, he was however worried about the unknown teacher he was going to be with and what they were gonna be teaching him. So the rest of their final meal was held in silence. Once it was finished Grayfia simply smiled and left with Yuno.

The question about Issei's teacher was answered shortly after he had finished breakfast with a knock at the door. Yuno opened it, bowing slightly with her head towards a wiry man with salt and pepper hair and emerald eyes, the man was dressed in a grey shirt with black trousers. He walked with a purpose, taking in first the room then Issei. Issei matched the man gaze from his seat which caused the man to smile, putting down the load of books Issei hadn't noticed he was carrying under his arm onto the table before holding his hand out to Issei speaking in a clear deep but formal voice. "My name is Nathius. I have been assigned as your teacher going forward."

Issei took the man's hand, very unsure of himself. "I'm Issei."

"I know. Now tell me Issei, do you know how to read?"

Grayfia had asked a similar question a few days ago so Issei answered the same way he had the

n. "A little bit, my mum had started to teach me a bit each night before I went to bed."

Nathius saw the hint of sorrow on Issei's face but ignored it powering forward. "Well then let's build upon that foundation. I have some simple books, I will read a page then you will repeat as best you can. Tell me which of these you're interested in."

Nathius then layed out a selection of books letting Issei look at them he then pointed to the one with a knight looking character with long red hair. Nathius then picked up the book giving Yuno an odd look before reading the title. "Tales of Titus Gremory."

Nathius then placed the book on the table pointing at the first letter Issei followed the finger saying each one as the finger moved. "T-A-L-E-S, tales. O-F, of…."

Moving the book away before he could finish reading the title opened it and gave the boy a smile, "let's not worry about names for now and focus on reading the book shall we." Which they did, Nathius would read a page then let Issei try and read it himself. At first Issei had to spell out each letter to get the right feel for the word but slowly that faded away and Issei was reading. Slowly but properly by the end of the first book, Nathius then picked another and the process started again with Issei having to spell out each word until he got into a sort of flow. The pair read three books together before Nathius called it a day and said his farewells, leaving the three books Issei had read as gifts. Issei took them, placing them on the table that was on the left hand side of the bed, having already decided he enjoyed reading, especially about the heroic Gremory, Yuno followed Nathius out of the room leaving Issei alone to play.

Later that day Yuno returned alone bring Issei meal laying it out for him before moving to tidy out the small messes Issei had missed round the room with a critical eye, Issei thanked her the food as she moved away from him then he enjoyed the meal to the fullest finding it as always to be the perfect amount of food to leave him sated. Yuno had finished her tasks through the room whilst Issei continued to eat so she took position behind him in the same manner she had behind Grayfia being close at hand in case he needed anything until he finished. Then she moved to clear away the mess before silently leaving the room. Issei again thanked her as she left although Yuno seemed to ignore him. Once again alone Issei moved around the room firstly playing with some of his toys before tidying them away earlier than normal and got ready for bed where he took hold of the book on the top of the stack as he began to try and read as best he could. He skipped words he couldn't read correctly which sometimes made the book seem disjointed but his imagination seemed to fill the holes, he continued until he felt the pull of sleep and answered its call placing the book back on its new home.

Starting from the next day a new patterned emerged starting and ending in a similar manner to the first with the difference being exactly as Grayfia had said, Yuno brought the meals to Issei alone and that they reminded in a comfortable silence as Issei eat, the only words spoken were when Issei thanked Yuno for the meal, both when he received it and again when she left the room. The other addition to Issei's new daily pattern was the constant presence of Nathius. He started lessons in the same way at first by bringing in a selection of books and guiding Issei through them but slowly as each day passed the books continued to increase in difficulty and length until they reached a point where it took a few lessons to get through a single book. Each time Issei completed a book he was given it as a reward. Slowly as Issei's collection grew and he became more capable at reading, Issei began to return the books to Nathius, ones that had held no interest to him which strangely left Nathius smiling. It was also at this point the lesson changed.

"Having at least started to master the art of words I think it is time to begin with numbers." Nathius stated when Issei had finished the book they had been working on for the last three days. He first handed the book to Issei as he always did but it had been a dry uninteresting book that Issei found incredibly boring to get through so he pushed the book back to Nathius with a shake of his head which earned him a simple nod. Nathius then handed the book to Yuno to hold who took it before returning to her position but the door, Nathius then moved to Issei toy chest and opened it "Ok please take out five toys for me, count each one."

Issei tried to please, moving to the chest but froze as he tried to think. When no answer came he looked to Nathius fearing his response. Nathius held no expression instead he picked out a toy placing it on the floor. "One" he then pulled out four more toys, placing them on the ground. Saying each number as he did so. "Now return the toys to the box exactly as I did when I took them out." Issei nodded and did so. Smiling to himself at the simplicity of it thinking this might not be so hard as after all, a few days later he found out how wrong he was.

Once Issei had managed to take out and count to Twenty, Nathius got him to return two toys to the chest at a time counting them together, not one at the time. At first it confused Issei as he tried to say each number rather than skip the number but eventually he was able to do it somewhat easily then Nathius got him to do it the other way around. First placing only a single toy into the chest or removing it before saying each number that was two after it until he got to nineteen. Once Issei had been able to do that Nathius moved to using pens and paper to write things down and explained about Odd and Even numbers before confusing Issei once again when he began to talk about multiplications and times tables but like with everything else with time and effort Issei was able to understand it. It was once they had covered everything between one and one hundred did Nathius end that day's lesson early by simply turning to Yuno "I have taught him all I can without him learning the truth."

Yuno simply nodded before placing a hand to her ear where Issei saw a sudden red glow. She nodded once before looking at Issei. Speaking for the first time Issei had ever heard, her voice was soft like a jiggle of a bell but held no nonsense. "It is time you met our Lord, come."

She then led Issei out the door to the room he had been left for longer than he could remember, leaving Nathius to tidy the mess they had made.