It happened on the fourth day of my daily pilgrimages. As I arrived and set up the offerings, I was brought out of my bow by the sound of a youthful voice, "Most would have given up after the first day."

I looked up, to see a slim girl sitting on thin air, hovering over the Fox statue. If that wasn't enough of a clue to her identity, the prominent black and white vulpine ears and tails would be. The Kitsune in front of me possessed 3 tails, which meant she was likely one of the younger shrine spirits in this temple.

She continued, "Especially weird that you are a Devil. Wouldn't being ignored damage your precious pride?"

I smiled at her, "A pleasure to finally meet you. And to answer your question, what if I prided myself on being patient?"

She gave a wry grin at that, "That would make you very odd indeed. Seeing as ignoring you is not working, I'll have to be more direct. Leave, Devilkin."

I shook my head, "Unfortunately I can't do that. The reason I've been coming here these past few nights is that I wish to speak to Lady Inari."

The Yokai's eyes narrowed, "Why would Lady Inari wish to speak to one of your kind? It's highly presumptuous of you to think you deserve an audience with her."

I bowed to her, surprising the fox, "The reason I want to speak to her is to make amends for the actions of my people."

There was a brief bit of silence, before the response flatly came, "Your Satan Leviathan already apologised multiple times. Lady Inari and Lady Yasaka were unconvinced. Now she sends a young boy to do so in her stead?"

"You misunderstand me." I corrected, "I am not here on behalf of the Devils, or the Satans. I am here to personally apologise, in the name of House Sagan and myself, as it's last Lord."

There was a ruffling of movement, and I could see from my peripheral vision she had crossed her arms. "I don't think that will be enough for Lady Inari to meet you. Why should I even deliver your request for an audience? It's likely to be a waste of my time."

I expected this. Kitsune are greedy and mischievous, enjoying extorting people for simple tasks.

"I have a tray of inarizushi with your name on it if you would just tell Lady Inari that Damocles Sagan wishes to have a meeting. That is all you would need to do."

She scoffed, "Do you think I'm someone that can be bribed?"

"Yes."

"Well you're right. Two trays, big ones, and I will do it." She nodded with a soft 'umu'.

I suppressed a laugh, "Deal."

She then waved a hand, "Alright, get out of that bow. When you bring back the inar..."

She trailed off as I clicked my fingers and suddenly two trays of delicious inarizushi appeared, floating in front of me. The smell of fried tofu started drifting in the air, and her eyes locked onto the treats. She reached for them, but I floated them out of her grasp.

"Ah, ah, send the message first, then you can get them."

She pouted at me, but sighed and closed her eyes. I could feel a slight shift in the energy around us, but couldn't really determine the exact changes due to the differences between divine magic and the kind I was used to. The little fox, with her eyes still closed, furrowed her brow before sighing.

Her eyes opened, staring at me with her amber gaze, "You are in luck, Devil."

Suddenly, a presence came over us, slightly compressing the area around us with its power. Her eyes gained a golden glow, and the loose shrine maiden outfit she wore seemed to flutter in a non-existent wind. I had no doubt, I was now standing before a god. Additionally, with the descent of their goddess, I noticed through Information Defence the attention of all the Guardian Spirits that called this shrine home focus on me exclusively.

I bowed at the waist, going as deep as etiquette allowed, "Lady Inari, thank you for meeting with me."

Her voice was completely different from the young Kitsune, containing a sense of age and wisdom, "So Meru was not mistaken. It has been a while since I saw a descendant of Lucifer's Insult."

Lucifer's Insult. That was the epithet for the first Sagan, Remora. The name came about due to Remora being created to directly oppose the Seraph Gabriel. The characteristic features of Sagan devils, the noble, soft faces, the bright blue eyes and the pale gold hair was due to this. Remora was crafted by Lucifer to almost directly resemble Gabriel, all the way down to their appearances.

Even her power was specifically tailored to contrast that of Heaven's Messenger. The original Lucifer took great pleasure in showing off Remora to the Angels, usually in incredibly sexual clothing and situations, causing many great distress by seeing someone who looked like one of their most beloved members act in sinful and depraved ways.

Thus, Lucifer's Insult.

The Kami in front of me continued, "I was under the impression your house had been ended."

I nodded, "It was, Lady Inari. I was only recently discovered while under a stasis spell. I've been catching up on the events that happened while I was indisposed, and wished to apologise for the dishonour my people have brought upon themselves."

Inari's mouth quirked into a smirk, "So you are here to merely make amends out of the goodness of your heart?"

I smiled, "Of course not. I would not presume to insult you by expecting you to believe that for a second. I also wish to facilitate trade between the Underworld and the Yokai once more."

She narrowed her eyes, "With you as the intermediary I presume? Looking to make a hefty profit out of this, are you?"

"I am." I answered, "However, I can swear any binding oath you want that the prices will be fairly decided. In my current situation, good will will go a lot further than any profit I could make in the short term."

Inari airily waved a hand, "Why should I help facilitate this? In fact, why come to me at all? Why not appeal to a more important Kami, like Ameterasu?"

I explained, "Restarting trade with the Underworld will allow the Yokai to once again thrive. Currently, they are doing well for themselves, but from the records I could find, the trade with the devils allowed them to expand their numbers in a rapid manner. Should I prove successful, The Shinto would see the effectiveness of their forces increase."

"As for why I sought you out..." I continued, hesitantly, "Please do not take offence. But although you are not the strongest Kami, or the one most proficient in combat, you are the most influential. A full third of all shrines and temples in Japan are devoted to you, and you have more festivals in your honour than any other member of your pantheon. Additionally, one of your domains is prosperity, which is what I hope to bring about."

The Godly being in front of me bristled initially at my comment, but as the compliments flowed she gained a smug attitude. She hid her smile behind a suddenly appearing elaborate fan, waving it gently as she listened to my words. It seemed that old trope held true, the way to a female Deity's good graces is paved with shameless compliments.

What I said was true, Inari was the most revered deity in Japan. Most still thought of Susano'o, Tsukiyomi and Ameterasu as stronger than her in raw in power, but the adoration and celebration in excess of her peers that Inari received was a strength all of it's own. If things continued the way they were going, soon the faith she was generating passively would allow her to surpass her relatives in power, even without her own Myth supporting said strength.

Once I finished, she hummed, contemplating. "The Yokai are not part of our armies." She calmly rebutted, "They are our followers, but why should we be overly invested in their military strength or numbers?"

"They are not officially under your direction, true." I allowed, "I am certain that Yasaka being both a priestess of Ameterasu and a Kitsune is pure coincidence."

My snark did not pass unremarked. "I find your blunt observations quite annoying, Scion of the Sagan." Her fan still covered her face, her eyes focused and regarding me calculatingly.

I dipped my head slightly, "I apologise, Lady Inari. I was aiming for charming eccentricity."

She snapped her fan closed, a amused smile on her face. "Well, we can all have our delusions, I suppose. How can I trust you though, Devil? How do I know your intentions are what you claim them to be?"

I thought for a brief moment before finding an answer, "Well, my Lady, unlike the Devils you have dealt with recently, when I was raised we were taught that deals were not to be made or broken lightly. I have too much to gain by being honest and too much to lose to engage in deceit. However, in the end, no matter what I say or what guarantees I give, there is only one reason left. It's the same reason why I believe you are truly Inari Okami, not just an illusion of Meru's to swindle me out of my snacks."

"Oh?" An eyebrow was raised, "What reason is that?"

I spread my arms wide, "Faith, my Lady."

The night air was silent for a few heartbeats, before bright peals of laughter interrupted the stillness. Her domains of Agriculture and Fertility showed themselves, the very world around us seeming to share in her amusement. The fireflies dancing in merriment and the grass waving in tune to the beautiful sound.

"A Devil lecturing a Kami on faith..." She sputtered out, wiping a tear from her host's eye, "Charming eccentricity indeed."

She wound down, regarding my smiling visage with newly evaluating eyes. "You are certainly a strange Devil, Sagan." Her gaze turned contemplative, then she moved to throw something at me.

I caught it and opened my hand to reveal a golden Omamori, the embroidery depicting a fox about to pounce. Her voice brought me out of my inspection, "You've given me much to ponder. Leave now, you'll know when I've made a decision." Her grin turned foxy, "Or maybe you won't. Who knows?~"

With that last bit of whimsy, she vanished, along with the covered trays of treats that had been floating at my side this entire time. The shrine suddenly seemed lifeless, the feeling of many beings attention lessening.

Shrugging, I moved to leave, calling out as I did, "Enjoy your treats, Meru."

There was no response.

She stared at the chess board in front of her. The pieces were set up in their starting positions, no moves made yet, but as she twirled a strand of silver hair around her fingers multiple possible positions and board states were bouncing through her mind.

It was a common sight in the orphanage, the other children long since given up on playing against her in any board games. Her mind made it so easy to see the winning moves, her mastery of probability such that even games of chance ended up favouring her more often than not. Even when prospective parent came in, their initial excitement to find a "once in a generation Genius" soon faded in response to her listless and uninterested personality.

That's fine though, she lied to herself. She was happier when she was left alone anyway. Ever since her parents died in that accident, lonely was all she felt. True, her parents were hard on her and life wasn't perfect, but at least they pretended to care.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a older boy sat on the chair across from her. She looked up, meeting his bright blue eyes, idly noting his distinctive white hair, before taking in his gentle smile. His face seemed to radiate a youthful innocence, but from the formal looking, high quality clothes he was wearing, she pegged as some rich person's kid.

"Chess," He started, bringing her attention back to his eyes, which had yet to leave hers, "Is a truly fascinating game. How would you feel about a few rounds?" He then made a move before she could respond, e4.

She rolled her eyes. She knew exactly how this would go. A spoiled child of a rich couple challenging her to a game of chess, thinking their tutoring would give them an edge against her. After she wins, he will get angry and she will once again be looked over by his parents.

She sighed and responded with e5, the game quickly transitioning into a Kings Gambit. 20 moves later, checkmate was given and she sat back, expecting the usual accusation of cheating or other such dramatics. She blinked instead as the youth in front of her merely stroked his chin, seemingly considering the game they had just played.

He smiled at her, surprising the girl as he reached out to reset the board, asking, "Good game. Another?"

Mutely, she nodded. What was with this guy? Wasn't he upset to lose against an 8 year old? A girl? He started the game again, this time going for a London System style opening. Resolving to test whether the previous game was a fluke, she threw her all into this game, defeating him within 10 moves.

The boy stared at the board in front of him, the outcome of the next three moves obvious. Grinning widely, he looked back up into her eyes, remarking, "Fascinating. You truly are amazing."

Her cheeks coloured, not used to praise, especially from someone she had just defeated. She watched as the boy in front of her pulled out a bag that she hadn't noticed before, rummaging around inside. He produced a pencil and paper, gently moving the chess set to the side.

He drew a grid, 3 by 3, onto the sheet of paper. Smiling at her, he drew an X in the middle of the grid, before passing the pencil to her.

"Another game?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Really?" Was her deadpan response, "Tic Tac Toe?"

His grin spread wider, "So you do talk! Thank you for gracing me with your lovely voice. Do you want me to explain the rules?"

Her cheeks freshly blushed at the weird compliment. She sniffed, attempting to mask her embarrassment while marking the top right spot with an O, "I know the rules."

He shrugged, plucking back the pencil and making an X in the bottom left space, "If you are sure."

She sighed, expecting this to end in a draw now, not that she would have fallen into the only trap that actually could win. She made her O in the top left, quickly losing interest. She watched in confusion however, as he proceeded to draw a X outside of the grid in line with his previous two, drawing a line through all three.

"I win." He smugly stated.

"No you don't!" She loudly yelled, surprising a few of the children around her, "That's not how Tic Tac Toe is played! That's against the rules!"

The boy remained completely unfazed, "I thought you knew the rules we were playing by? I offered to explain them."

She stared at him in stupefaction, utterly flabbergasted at his audacity. She did agree to the rules, without even knowing they were changed. That was... That was...

"That's dirty." She grumbled, sitting down. She could appreciate the trick, but she was still put off about it being preformed on her.

"It was." He hummed, "I cheated, and I won. How about we play a different game, one that only uses the others that we play as tools."

She wasn't in the mood to be tricked again, but this sounded interesting. Whatever else this is, it was a lot less boring than usual in the orphanage.

"What game?" She asked wearily.

He pulled out a deck of cards from his backpack, "We'll play a few rounds of Blackjack, or 21 as you might know it. However, I'll tell you now, I'm going to cheat. You have 3 questions that I have to answer truthfully to figure out how I'm cheating, if you guess right, you win. If you guess wrong, I win."

This definitely sounded interesting. Watching as he shuffled and dealt the cards, she asked, "What do I win if I guess right?"

He shrugged, "We could just play for points, but if you want to have an actual bet I do have some treats in my bag that we could use."

She nodded, picking up her cards, "Let's use those. Does the way you're cheating have to do with calculations?"

He smiled. "It does not."

She hummed, so that ruled out card counting. Next question, "Does the way you're cheating..."

They played for what seemed like hours, different card games, board games, dice games and even a few word games flying the time away. She lost quite a few times, but didn't have to give him anything, whereas every time she won she got one of his delicious baked goods. So all in all, even if she were losing more than she was winning, which was not the case, she definitely came out ahead. She made him eat one first, of course, to prove it wasn't a prank or the treats weren't expired.

She realised two things as they played however. First, the boy in front of her was very smart. Smarter than anyone else she had met at his age. She was still more intelligent than even him, of course, but it would be a mistake to think he was dumb like the average boys she met.

The second thing, was a weird warm sensation in her chest. She thought it was the thrill of winning, but when she lost and he explained to her what exact trick he was using that particular game it got just that slight be warmer. It was a good, familiar feeling, but it took her a while to realise what it was, due to her having not experienced it in a long time.

Fun.

She was having fun, This strange older boy was well on the way to making this best day the young girl could remember. In fact, she caught herself occasionally wondering how her life would be if she had him as an older brother.

She shook the thought out of her head, knowing it could never happen. Instead, she focused on the game they were currently playing, normal Poker. They had played it before, but he had used a different trick each time. Whatever he was doing at the moment, it seemed to be the best one he's pulled yet.

He had hands consistently that were impossible to have been pulled from the deck. She knew it was a normal deck of cards, having inspected it herself. It couldn't be a shuffling trick, as she was the one that was shuffling the deck.

She was on her last question, the first one eliminating the possibility of him hiding cards on his person and the second one excluding him having a second deck he was using sleight of hand to pull from. Watching him put down his fourth flush in a row, she decided to finish this round, noting idly that it was almost time for supper. That tickled something in the back her mind, something important that she seemed to have forgotten.

Shrugging it off, she asked her last question, "Does the trick require you to physically touch the cards to cheat?"

He shook his head, "No, it does not. Good question, though."

She considered the information she had gathered, frowning as the pieces refused to line up. What possible way of cheating at poker allowed you to pull cards that weren't in the deck and didn't include a separate pack of cards? Without even touching them?

Resigning herself to loss, she decided to through out a joke, "Magic?"

His amused expression deepened, "Exactly, I was using Magic to cheat."

She hit him with a deadpan stare, "You promised to be honest with me."

He waved his hands of her cards and as she watched, the colours blended and changed until the flush that he previously had was lying there looking a lot less impressive. Shocked, she then watched as he held up a finger, a glowing orb of light revolving on it's tip.

"I was honest. I can see that you're interested." He said, his voice a smooth, tempting whisper, "Would you like to know more, Shiro?"

A shiver ran down her back, the knowledge that she never gave him her name bouncing around her head, all while she suddenly remembered the thing that was bothering her.

Visiting hours ended ages ago.

A black void stretched out in all directions. The place was not truly empty, but to those without divinity the actual landscape was impossible to define. Piercing the monotonous surroundings, a veil of stars was swirling through the area. Occasionally pausing, expanding and contracting, before moving on. Suddenly, appearing next to the twinkling expanse, a monochrome child appeared.

With his appearance, the landscape seemed to lose even more of it's non-existent colour. The stars whirled angrily, the shifting nebulae briefly revealing a stark, glowing orb, blue light shining forth balefully from it. As quickly as it was glimpsed, it was gone.

The child grinned a wolfish smile, completely un-threatened, "It looks like you're having trouble piercing the Dimensional Veil, would you like help?"

The air was still, the universe itself stunned at his flippancy, before a smooth, clear voice sounded forth, "Ah. Am I to surmise this debacle art of your making, then? Tell me, creature, what joy dost thou gain from depriving me from what is rightfully mine?"

The kid shrugged, not at all phased by the accusation, "In a way, every situation that happens in this particular multi-verse is of my making. Your particular shambles, however, is entirely coincidental, I promise. In fact, I'm even here to assist you!"

"Thou art possessed of the power to grant me what I seek. Why delay our destined reunion?" Came the reply.

"You might have destined your reunion, but I am under no obligation to hasten it. Besides, doing it this way is more fun for me, and that is all that truly matters." He sat cross legged in the air as he stated this.

"Should thou persist in impeding mine path, I feel I should forewarn thee. My machinations hath felled Gods before." The voice took a cold edge, malice inking the space they occupied.

The other being briefly looked excited, before slumping in defeat as if something underwhelming was revealed to him. "It would not be a fair fight. Regardless, allow me to disabuse you of your notions. I am not the one impeding your progress, it the very rules of the world which he currently inhabits. I could teach you how to get around said restrictions."

Before the response could be given, he continued, "First, however. I wish to make one thing clear to you. He is not the one you remember. True, he has his soul, but his memories, his very existence itself, is not what you think it is. Would you still go for all this effort, just for him?"

There was a brief period of silence, before the resolute answer came, "We made a pact, him and I. 'Twould not be expected for one such as thee to understand the weight of such vows."

"Excellent." The monochrome eyes lit up in satisfaction, "Your addition shall be most... amusing."

He tilted his head suddenly, as if noticing something. "Before we get into that, let me go take care of something. I'll be riiiiight back."

Just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone, leaving the inky blackness once again alone with the blue light of the Stars.

AN: Sorry about the lateness of this chapter, work was an absolute bitch recently. I was called in to do overtime a lot over New Years, and then on my actually scheduled shift the previous person left a ton of tickets for me to work through, so time was in a bit short supply.

The bit at the end might be a bit too obvious of a foreshadow, but I decided to put it in anyway. It will be a good, long while before it is relevant, anyway.

Also, Damocles is truly doing a whammy on poor old Shiro. Light hypnosis, Zenryoku Zenkai and Fairy Feast? Poor girl didn't stand a chance.

This was written over multiple sessions, if you happen across any mistakes or obvious typos please let me know!