Chapter 10: Surprises.

It only took Issei the time it took for the other to join him near the kitchen to clear out the smoking…something, from the kitchen. Thankfully Titus had used the stove top rather than the oven like he had in times past. Issei wasn't really sure how the blind Familiar was able to turn the appliances on but wasn't able to prevent things from burning but he decided it was better to simply stop Titus from attempting to cook whenever the occasion arose. Having disposed of the mess just outside the backdoor which conveniently was just beside the Kitchen, Issei turned his attention back to the others. They were all looking at Issei with a mixture of shock and amusement, shortly after Rias took charge pulling out a phone and placing a phone call, once she put it down she gave the group an amused smile. "I took the liberty to order some takeout, why don't we all remain here as a sort of welcoming party to our new members."

The original members of the Peerage all agreed but Issei raised his hand to bring attention to himself. "Uh how did you get my address to even get a delivery sent here."

Rias gave him a brilliant smile. "I asked the Principle for it when I got Asia enrolled in the Academy. You start tomorrow by the way, don't be late. Akeno can help you with finding your classroom."

Asia nodded her understanding well. Issei resisted asking further questions, figuring if Rias had enough sway to get a mysterious unknown girl enrolled into the academy in a matter of hours then she could acquire his address. Following that the Peerage gathered in the living room and Rias mercilessly didn't sit beside Issei, which was largely due to Issei's choice to sit in one of the recliners. Asia took the opposing one and Rias sat in the middle beside Akeno who sat closest to Issei and Yuuto who sat on Asia side which made the girl smile as she sent small glaces his way throughout the evening. Koneko quietly retrieved a chair from the basement and placed it opposite the Trio. Titus for his part had at some point shifted into his Basilisk form hid under the coffee table, when the food had arrived the familiar kept sending requests for scraps to Issei but Issei ignored him, largely to punish the familiar for the ruckus he had caused. The afternoon itself was a quiet affair with the original members discussing simple matters and making plenty of small jokes and quips at each other's expense. Koneko joined Issei and Asia in quietly listening to the Trio's antics. The smallest of smiles forming on her lips, Asia smile was grand as she seemed to slowly get comfortable with the Peerage and her new life. As for Issei he found himself realising this was the first time in a very long time where he had just stopped to relax and make some friends.

The group remained until the sun began to set and everyone left Issei alone once more as they returned to their own homes via transport circle produced by Rias, Rias commenting on how she would be back shortly wanting to make sure Asia was fully moved in and the desire to collect the last of her things. With the Peerage gone Issei took to the task of cleaning up, the final part of which being to take all the food scraps along with the burn mess out further away from his and his neighbours homes waiting for Titus who was already growing to his full size, which was roughly the size of Issei's leg with the thickness of his thigh looking closely at the large head Issei could see that the basilisk had a set of large nostrils that were audibly sniffing the air. The familiar had a large set of fangs and two slits for ears on the side of its head but the rest of its head was smooth showing no sign of any eyes largely due to the fact the basilisk had closed its eyelids not needing its most deadly weapons. The basilisk didn't actually have eyes, instead Issei had learned the serpent had pearly white sphered mirrors that reflected power back at the one trapped within its gaze. The speed of which the power was reflected grew as the Basilisk got older along with gaining the ability to paralyse its prey, Issei was immune to it all thanks to his bond with Titus which he had proven early into his return from the underworld. It was something Azazel had reprimanded him for as stupidly risky. Ultimately Titus was in fact blind but sensed his surroundings through a mixture of scent and sound Issei stepped away from the food pile and sent a thought of agreement to the familiar watching as he sliver to the pile mouth opening impossibly wide and consuming the pile of disposed food. It disappeared down Titus' throat and the Basilisk moved to the nearby bushes to digest his food in peace. Issei shook his head. It wasn't often that he fed the Familiar, Titus was more than capable at feeding himself but on occasion it acted as an odd bonding ritual the pair performed when Issei had a large amount of old food to dispose of. It grossed Issei out to see Titus devour the mess and the Familiar knew it very likely taking enjoyment of Issei disgust but he also took great offence whenever Issei simply threw the waste out with the rest of the regular garage.

With their odd ritual complete, Issei returned to the basement stepping into the office and looking over the piles of sheets that piled up on the desk. He collected a pen and began to twiddle it between his dexterous fingers as he read through each sheet making small notes when necessary slowly losing track of time as he focused on his work. He also missed the moment Rias entered the office until she cleared her throat to get his attention, looking her way Issei gulped. She had changed out of her Academy uniform and was now wearing a rose coloured t-shirt with sea blue jeans all of which seemed to be sprayed onto her body. Her attention wasn't on him however she was peering at his desk but politely staying out the room until he said otherwise. "What are you doing?"

Issei stretched his back out well, lifting his arms over his head, throwing the pen onto the desk as he stretched out his arms and back in a manner that moved his head back pulling his eyes away from Rias' form. Closing his eyes, images of Rias pulling off her tight outfit flashed in his mind. Opening his eyes and focusing on his being very careful not to let his eye drift onto Rias, Issei pointed to the piles on his desk. "When Titus isn't trying to burn the place down and isn't helping me out, he's collecting requests from people. Which is this pile here. I'm just reading through them and sorting which ones are worth my time and which ones are just a waste. Once I do that I'll travel to the client's residence and help them out, you know, to get a pact. Honestly though I'm not very good at it. Everyone seems to be more likely to reward me with thanks but never actually give me a pact."

Rias took Issei's explanation as permission for a closer look, standing over his shoulder she gave the requests once over. Issei doing everything he could no to look at her chest that was centimetres from his head "a lot of this is much the same as what my Peerage handles, how about I come with you on one and see if I help make things run smoother."

"Sounds good." Issei responded simply, his attention fixed on the centre of his desk, unwilling to look anywhere else until Rias moved.

"I'll look at what comes in, as much as I appreciate the work Titus does just glancing from some of these I can see you have major flaws in your system." Rias said as she picked up a stack of papers looking through them .issei looked at his own stack agreeing slightly with Rias. After all he was making up as he went along, Azazel had only given him a basic idea on what he needed to do. With a simple nod of his head a smile blossomed on Rias' face. "Excellent. I'll find one for us by tomorrow evening, I still need to finish moving my things tonight.

"Ok." Was all Issei could say as Rais walked away back up the stairs, Issei self control breaking as his eyes followed and drew her from in as she departed, his mind going blank as his heart raced in his chest.

He nearly fell out of his chair as he moved to look at his desk when she turned to look at him, he didn't see the small victorious smile that crossed her lips as she spoke in more formal tones. "Oh and Issei no more skipping school or classes. I need you close at hand and don't want to have to come personally collect you whenever I need you. I'm sure I don't need to tell you this but I expect you to show yourself at the clubhouse after classes."

Issei simply nodded his head, refusing to look her way until she was out of sight. Once she had vanished up the stairs Issei cursed softly under his breath having no idea what was going on with his self control.

The next day Issei awoke with plenty of time to get to the Academy. He really didn't want to go and waste away his day but he knew he had to make an effort. He wanted to be a true part of the Peerage and to that he had to follow the same rules everyone else did. He couldn't outcast himself just because it served him better in the short term. Issei had long term goals, ideas and plans that had formed over the years but to achieve a great many of them he needed allies. So he got ready into his academy uniform. Leaving his room, Issei looked over to Rias' room seeing the door was closed, Issei figured it was best to leave Rias be. So he headed down stairs, collected some food as well as packed a snack followed by preparing himself some lunch, he made more than he would need knowing Titus would demand his share. When his preparations were complete Issei collected Titus from one of his hiding spots and headed out the door beginning his journey in his new life as part of the Peerage, a small smile formed on his lips at the thought.

Issei had perhaps made it halfway to the Academy when Rias stepped out from around an alleyway, a small victorious smirk resting on her lips as she began to walk beside him. "You thought you could get away from me did you."

Issei shrugged. "Didn't want to disturb you."

Laughing Rias fixed him with a glare. "You know you're not the most quiet person when you're busy. I could hear you making things from my room. Especially when you're hunting down your Familiar, why don't you just dismiss and summon him when you need to."

"He doesn't really like to be dismissed, he also gets grumpy with me when I do and it's nice to have him around most of the time anyway. How did you find me by the way?"

It was Rias' turn to shrug this time. "Wasn't that hard, I just did the same thing I always do whenever I want to find one of my Pieces. Which is odd because it's never worked with you before and it's not like much has changed."

Issei racked his brain for an answer, he looked down at his arm, surprised not to see Titus coiled around it. It was then he became aware of Titus' presence lazing on his neck in his smallest form being no bigger than Issei forearm which made him near unnoticeable. Titus also caused Issei to almost trip as Titus sent Issei an Image of Rias and Issei engaging in various nude activities a number of which Issei had thought of himself during in his dreams of late. The familiar had been spending far too much time in his mind. Rias gave Issei a quizzical expression but Issei just shook his head not wanting to explain anything. From there the pair travelled in a comfortable silence until they reached the Academy where Rias seemed to brace herself, until she jumped in surprise when Titus slivered off Issei's neck. Growing as he moved down Issei's arm, eventually Titus' head came to stop at Rias' elbow, well his tail was on Issei's own elbow. The pair passed the Academy crowds quickly and undisturbed. Once they had reached a quiet patch Issei was smirking and Rias just raised an eyebrow. "Cloaking?"

"Yeah it was something Titus developed a couple of years back, or at least that when he told me about it. He is a predator so it makes sense he would have something to hide from his prey. Titus doesn't exactly blend in with his surroundings all that well." Issei said as he petted the Basilisk's head which was once again round his shoulder. Issei then moved to a nearby area, busy letting the serpent sliver off his arm before disappearing into the shrub. Likely off to complete his tasks for the day. Before Rais could say anything more the Academy bell sounded and the pair parted ways heading off to their own classes.

The only other surprise was that Asia was joining his class. It took but a moment for Issei's surprise to subside because he quickly realised that in likelihood Rias had pulled yet another string. Once Issei had recovered from his mild surprise he surprised the class as a whole when the teacher asked for volunteers to help Asia get accustomed to her class schedule. "I'll do it sir."

The teacher looked agape for a moment before he narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure, it'll mean actually show up to class?"

Issei chuckled. Despite the teacher's barb at his lack of attendance Issei had always done well on his exams so the academy had little reason to kick him out which was something many of the faculty resented greatly. "I'm sure sir. I've recently been given reason to make more of an effort with my attendance."

With a simple nod the teacher made small changes to the seating plan of the class so Aisa could sit close to Issei, in the end she ended up behind him and she seemed over the moon to be assigned to him. The rest of the day when relatively smoothly, other than the endless boredom of classes and the occasion moment where Issei had to save Asia from being swarmed by a bunch of eager boys sensing easy prey or over excited girl wanting to add a member to the Yuuto fan club, although Issei did hear a few murmured requests for an introduction to Issei directed to Asia. Thankfully, Asia always declined all the requests.. Once the day was done the pair headed to the club house finding themselves to be the final members to arrive. They collected a seat beside Akeno with Asia sitting in the middle and Issei sitting furthest from Rias. From there Rias began a simple meeting going over training plans for Asia mostly focused on working on her stamina. She asked Koneko to focus on that but promised to check in on them. Rias also congratulated the Peerage at large for all their hard work with completing pacts before she dismissed them, all in all the meeting lasted no more than half an hour before everyone went about to complete their own tasks. Koneko took Asia off to begin her training and Issei smiled when he saw Asia pleading gaze. Unfortunately for Asia it wasn't something he was gonna save her from, ten minutes later Yuuto left wordless and Akeno followed shortly after leaving Issei alone with Rias who was sitting at her desk hard at work on her own pile of documents. Smirking, Issei rose from his seat and moved to lean against the armrest of the sofa directly in front of Rias. His voice was quizzical when he spoke. "What are you doing?"

A small smile formed on Rias' lips upon hearing her words echoed back at her but didn't stop her task as she replied. "Filling work. I look at all the tasks my Peerage have completed or been assigned too and sort them accordingly. I note what they did well or what went wrong and see how to move forward from there."

Issei nodded his head sagely before he looked out the window seeing that it was getting close to sunset before returning his gaze to Rias. "Want a break. It's getting close to evening if you still feel like doing that pact with me right? It's Ok if you didn't."

Rias nodded, stretching out her back which pushed her chest forward to the point it risked straining her uniform, Issei quickly averted his gaze waiting for her response which came soon after. "Sounds good, I found one that is sure to be interesting. Let me just finish this."

Rising from her seat Rias made a few more notes before she put her pen down and moved to join Issei, without warning she grabbed his wrist and a circle appeared under their feet. In a blink of an eye they were in front of a nondescript apartment. Rias stepped forward to give a soft tap at the door. Whatever Issei had been expecting it was not a girl in samurai armour begging them to help her retrieve some notes she had left behind at her own school. Issei had inquired why she couldn't collect them herself, her response was an unintelligible string of why it was far too scary to travel the streets alone, especially this late in the evening. Rias glared at Issei before comforting the girl and agreeing to her request. Issei chose to go back and follow the two girls as they travelled; he cursed several times when the samurai girl got startled by something. It took more time than it had needed to but the Trio eventually made it back to the girls apartment notes in hand. It was then that the girls began what Issei would later learn was simply known as Girl talk. They didn't really say much of anything other than some guy's name and some shocking gasps from Rias about some shocking revelation Issei hadn't heard or really understood. He did however understand that he had been roped in to helping the girl confess her feelings for her crush. Which mostly meant he had to wait around well Rias helped the girl write a confession letter. Issei paid little attention to what was going on so he missed the moments when Rias would say something to the girl, especially the ways he looked directly at Issei with a small shy smile as she spoke. Eventually the pair were finished and Issei quickly put the girl into the crazy category when suggested sending the letter by arrow; that decision was sealed when the girl insisted it was the only way.

Finally the trio travelled with the same amount of terrified madness the girl caused when they collected her notes to the place the girl decided would be a good place to fire her arrow, having clearly already planned most of the craziness out ahead of time. Surprisingly the girl was a good shot with the bow. The arrow hitting its target straight in the head, the only reason they survived was because her crush was, luckily, the same kind of crazy as she was only deciding it was logical to dress in knights armour. By the time morning came the pair stood beside the girl as her knight came and agreed to court her. The samurai girl thanked the pair. Finishing the pact by giving the payment she had promised plus a little bit more for going the extra mile. The pair said their goodbyes before walking off, they only walked for a short time because once they were out of sight Rias transported them back to the clubhouse.

Rias moved to her desk holding the completed pact in her hand before smiling at Issei and laughing in her voice. "Well those two were a match made in armour."

Issei scrowled in return. "More like a match made in the insane asylum."

Rias looked at Issei for a moment, seeming to debate saying something before she took a breath and spoke in a soft quiet voice. "So what do you think…?"

"About what?" Issei asked wondering where she was going with her question

"About being with the person you love more than anything in the world?" Rias turned her attention back to the pact as she spoke, unable to look Issei in the eyes.

"I think it would be a perfect way to live your life."

Rias smiled brightly at that. "Yes it would."

"Plus it would be vile to live your life with someone you despised and had to force yourself to love. That is no way to live…but ignore me, I don't think I know much about love and I'm kinda just rambling. I'm gonna shut up now." Issei was rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment at the end of his rambling.

Rias shook her head, her eyes watering. "No, I'm glad you gave me an honest answer. Anyway I should get going. I need to check on Asia and Koneko before classes start. Sorry for keeping you so long. I'll see you after classes.

Issei then watched as Rias moved out the door, not quite sure why she was crying.

A/N and done. I wanted to skip over the pact we see in ep 6 mostly because it is a lusty side story which is fun but we won't be getting to lusty stuff till later. Let me know what you thought with a review and follow/ favourite if you like.

And I will see you in the next one.

P.s

The part I hate about writing is when I'm not focused on the chapter. Meaning when i'm working mostly i tend to think of odd ideas for the project im on. Ideas that take place far in the future. One of those ideas I will very likely be writing another I'm unsure on but basically I feel like writing an Asia fic but have her being older working an actual job and showing what I think life is for devils after highschool and college and the like. We will see I'm too focused on this for now but maybe in the future I'll be a good one shot side story.