Chapter 23

Six years ago:

"Issei. Get off her."

"No."

"Issei. It wasn't a request."

"You can't make me."

"You know for a fact I can."

"Never."

Jasmine sighed and looked at Amalia apologetically. The Nun was a friend of hers that shared several medicinal herb classes at the college. An attractive young woman from Scandinavia with brown hair and freckles that was well regarded as a healer in her home. A kind and generous girl with a smile and disposition that even the local Noble Devils couldn't hate.

And, as a given since she had attracted Issei's attention, she had fairly large and perky breasts for a young human woman.

Just to add icing on the cake, she was also a sheltered fool that had trouble saying no. A perfect trait to make things unbearably frustrating whenever a certain Sekiryutei was around.

"Issei. Just because she said she'll think about it doesn't mean she'll agree to be part of your harem." Jasmine glared at the boy that was clinging onto her back like a spider and certainly not using the poor nun as a meat shield.

"I'm taking her out to dinner on Friday too. She said I could." He peeked his head out from behind her shoulder.

Jasmine turned her glare to the blushing and justifiably embarrassed Amalia. "I warned you to be firm with him. I told you what would happen if you gave him a hint of false hope Amy."

"Sorry. I couldn't help it." She tried to defend herself, but didn't seem to be putting much effort into it. "The age difference between us isn't too big compared to some of the couples back home, so I couldn't deny the possibility in the future. And you know how bad I am at shutting people down…"

Of course Jasmine knew. She first met Amalia after seeing the girl being harassed by some upper years that didn't seem to care that they weren't the Catholic's type a few months back. Now she was both Issei's official babysitter and Amalia's unofficial bodyguard.

"Ugh. This is exactly why I didn't want you two to meet in the first place." Jasmine groaned.

"I think Nee-san's jealous." Issei's eyebrows wiggled in amusement.

"Say that again. See what happens brat." The accused's tone contained a malice that even Devils would have trouble replicating.

"Don't be too mean with him. He's just at that age…" The hostage tried to defend him. She would have been more convincing if she wasn't squirming under Issei's grasp, her breath starting to get heavy with each passing second.

Jasmine blinked and scrutinized her friend's behavior skeptically. "… Amy? Please tell me you're not getting off on this."

"Wh-what? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh fuck me my best girlfriend in college is a shotacon."

"No I'm not!" It probably would have helped the Nun's case if she had pretended to be ignorant of what the term 'shotacon' was in the first place. The small nose bleed didn't help matters either.

"Huh. Well what do you know? The Church gets more than the old men pervs after all." Issei, as usual, took the new revelation in stride in the completely opposite direction he should have. "… Or is it the just a universal attraction to young boys?"

"Nyaaa. I'd personally like to think that you just have that sort of effect on everyone. I-sei-kun." A familiar catty voice purred into his ear from behind playfully.

"Kuro-nee!" Issei cheered happily. "I didn't know you were back!"

"Oh great. The degenerate stray's returned." Jasmine was less enthused by Kuroka's appearance. She didn't have anything against the devil per say. She just really hated it whenever the Nekosho tried to strip her of her clothes and put her in compromising positions with Issei "by accident".

That, and the bitch kept on stealing her things. Including her underwear. Thankfully she didn't swipe the expensive stuff or she would have done something drastic by now.

"Hey Jasmine. Long time no see." Kuroka purred sensually as she brushed up against her fellow female. An aroused tingle rippled through Jasmine's body, but she wasn't fooled. This wasn't the first time the Nekoshou used Ki or Senjutsu to play with her body.

"Cat." She nodded. "I thought your current master was still keeping you under lock and key after last month."

The Devil's smile faltered ever so slightly, as did Issei's cheerful demeanor. "Last Month" had been a borderline fiasco.

Kuroka's master, the heir for the Naberius family, had been expected to make this huge research presentation about synergizing eastern and western magics for the college. Due to this being something from a Noble Devil, word had gotten around the way only big money could. Propaganda, praising the family and heir for their achievements. Same old same old.

At first, it looked pretty solid. Charts. Graphs. Big words and long speeches. If one didn't see just how fake and rehearsed Kuroka's behavior was while assisting the presentation, they'd almost assume that the Devil was on top of his game.

The problem came when it was time for the Q and A.

To his credit, the man did start off pretty strong and had a decent understanding on the topic, but it soon became apparent that he wasn't as intimately knowledgeable as he claimed.

It only got worse when, due to several pointed questions by individuals that may or may not have suspected what was going on, Kuroka started to answer everyone's questions. This in turn pretty much led everyone to come to the (correct) conclusion that Kuroka did most of the work and was the one that deserved their attention.

Of course, politics was a factor, so most of the Devils in the audience still gave the Naberius heir their attention, but the majority of the people that actually mattered had their eyes on Kuroka.

The Devil did not take too kindly to that.

Neither did Issei when he saw the spoiled man child abuse his bishop behind closed doors afterwards.

No one outside of the three knew exactly what had transpired in that room, but Jasmine was aware of one thing.

That had been the first time that she had ever felt Issei use his Presence out of pure anger before. She didn't like it.

Neither did the Naberius for that matter. From what everyone saw, the Devil, still intact, ran away from the campus as if the Biblical God was coming after him, completely forgetting the conference and Kuroka for that matter.

It was blatantly obvious that Kuroka wasn't out of any trouble just yet, but thankfully a few calls to the Maou helped balance things out. No doubt strings were pulled to allow her to return to the College again so soon.

"What can I say? So many people here miss me that even my lacking King found it hard to keep me to himself." Kuroka played off the incident while pressing up against Issei's back, essentially sandwiching him between two women.

Judging from the look of pure bliss on his face, he didn't mind in the slightest.

"Issei? Is something wrong? You're crying." Amalia asked, noticing the tears.

"I'm just. So happy." He sniffed. "Three members of my harem are all together with me in one place. I didn't think I'd be able to get this far for years."

"Oh for fucks, stop adding people you just met to your harem! And I'm still classified as a sister you jackass!" Jasmine karate chopped the enraptured child's skull. It had literally no effect whatsoever.

"Aaaaaah. I even get to touch all three at once. Today's so wonderful…"

"I think we long since lost him." Kuroka snickered in amusement as the boy's eyes glazed over, enraptured in his own world.

"Great. He's going to be lost in his delusions for the rest of the day." Jasmine shook her head before noticing the blush on Amalia's face. "And so help me if you start getting off on this and make things worse I'm gonna smack some sense into you too Amy."

"Wh-what are you talking about? I would never touch a child inappropriately! It's a sin!" The nun protested. She would have been more believable if the lewd smile she had wasn't growing by the second as Issei unconsciously began to fondle one of her breasts from behind.

"Thank whatever deity out there that the labs are connected to our dorms." Jas facepalmed.

"You're-" Ghost's voice chuckled from Issei's groping hand.

"I retract my thanks."

"Oh come on!"

"Ah?" Amalia looked down at the glowing hand curiously. "I heard that there was some malicious and perverted spirit in Issei's Sacred Gear. So you are the one that was cursed by the great father?"

"You got us mixed up. The other guy's the one that got punished by Yahweh. I'm in here because I simply screwed up by accident and got stuck here. As soon as the kid kicks the bucket, I'm out and about again." Ghost elaborated factually, already recovered from his latest verbal abuse. Knowledge on Issei's status as the Sekiryutei was still kept on a need to know basis. As far as everyone was concerned, the kid was just a gifted genius that happened to have two unknown Sacred Gears. The fact that Ghost was so annoying conveniently deterred most from trying to find out who Issei's other tenant was.

"Oh. My apologies." The nun blinked and stared at the hand groping her for several long seconds. "Can you by chance unhand my chest now?"

"If I said that it was the kid doing it and I'm merely enjoying the ride, would you hold it against me?"

"You're using an eleven year old child as an excuse and tool for molestation. You tell us." Jasmine deadpanned.

"Let me have this! It's cold and damp in here!"

"You told us months ago that you can remake the chamber you're in to be whatever you want. Idiot." Shaking her head, Jasmine breathed in deeply and made the jeweled necklace she wore grow with an ethereal silver light.

Her exhale came out in the form of a beautiful, perfectly pitched note that seemed to soothe and numb the nerves of everyone there.

Almost instantly Issei fell limp on Amy's back, and the glowing mark on his right hand faded away into nothing.

"Nyaaa. It's been a while since I saw you actually go out of your way to seal away Ghost." Kuroka purred, noting that Issei wasn't completely knocked out just yet.

"He's worse than Issei if you let him get ahead of himself." Jasmine turned to Amy. "Can you take him back to the apartment? He's going to be drowsy for a good couple of hours now."

"I… yes." The nun blinked in surprise. "I didn't know you could seal away Sacred Gears Jasmine."

"Only dragon based ones." She fingered her own casually. "Mine mutated a few months back. Apparently I can floor almost any flying lizard I want with a few chords now." And she could down Issei in half that. She didn't know why, but the kid simply did not have any resistances to anything that could make him fall asleep.

She didn't know why it had happened. She wasn't a fighter and hadn't been stuck in a life or death battle or anything ridiculous like that. All she had been doing at the time was singing a lullaby to Issei so he could finally sleep after he had been working himself literally sick again one night.

The fact that he had been working himself sick on her project didn't even register until later.

"That's an amazing ability you have. It would best be careful not to let anyone know. There are many people who would kill to have it." The sad thing was that Amalia wasn't stretching the truth by any measure.

"Don't worry. Not many people know about it, and it's not like I'm never protected." Jasmine smiled. Say what you want about babysitting Issei, but it did have its perks. "Get the little perv home already. The fact that he's already almost comatose means that he's been exhausting himself behind everyone's backs again."

"Right. I'll be back in a bit."

"And don't let him get handsy again you shoutacon!"

"Jasmine!"

She smirked as her friend moaned while turning the corner to climb up some stairs.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." A catty someone purred, making her smile drop almost instantly.

"I could say the same. It's an open secret that your master's a piece of trash." She turned to meet eyes. Two young women with a habit of making secrets and plans stood their ground. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'll manage. There is some merit to that saying with cats and multiple lives." Kuroka's smile betrayed nothing.

"You'll manage, but after what happened last time I don't want to see what Issei will do if things get out of hand again." Jasmine crossed her arms. "That kid overreacts on average, but that day… that wasn't like him."

"Hmm? Are you sure?" Yellow eyes flashed with a primal hunger. "Personally, I believe that what we felt that day was without question Issei. Or rather, a side of him that we already see quite frequently, but just, more."

"What are you getting at?" She didn't like where this was going.

"Hmhm. I think you already have an idea of what I am talking about." That cattish smile of hers always drove Jasmine mad with frustration.

The worst part was that Kuroka was right. She did have an idea of part of Issei they were alluding to, but she didn't want to admit it.

"… I'm thinking of taking up Issei's request."

That, however, caught Jasmine by surprise.

"Wait. You mean, you're actually thinking of-"

"Being a part of his Harem, yes." Kuroka nodded, her gaze a bit sharper than before. "He may be a bit young now, but even you can tell he'll be quite the catch in a few years. The Sekiryutei. Looks. Money. Intelligence. Power. Enough sexual knowledge to make every night of the year different. Open minded. And that dedication… he's the complete package that every and any girl dreams of catching. Just a bit early."

"And the real reason why you're going with his fantasy?"

Kuroka's smile faltered before morphing into a stubborn pout. "Hah. That skeptical side of you isn't appealing at all Jasmine. You could at least play along for a bit."

"I play stupid enough at the clubs I work at for tips. Get to the point cat."

"Why do you have to be so mean? I wasn't lying for the most part. Issei really the perfect catch. You humans wouldn't get it, but the instincts of Nekoshou are really something else. The children we'd make together would be nothing short of amazing. The genes of a Dragon that knows Ki mixed with mine…" Kuroka purred at the very prospect of what she was envisioning.

"AND?" Jasmine was starting to lose her patience, snapping the cat girl out of her wet daydream.

"And…" Kuroka sulked, her body unwinding itself once more. "He would be good for my sister."

"Your sister?"

"Shirone's a year younger than Issei, but she's not part of a Devil's peerage like I am. And if I work things right, she will never be. Having her under his protection when they get older would honestly be the best thing I could hope for."

It took a moment for the human to digest what she had just been told. Her irritation slowly gave way to concern. "Are things seriously ok with that asshole right now? We don't see eye to eye most of the time, but if you need help hiding…"

"Issei's already trying to get me away. He, somehow he already has one of the Maou on my case, and his legal team. I can't think of having better backing in my situation. At the very least, it's enough to stop that insufferable King of mine from getting carried away… so long as I remind him about it." It was rare for Kuroka to drop her guard and look genuinely uncertain and vulnerable for once.

She looked up at Jasmine again, the sharp edge in her eyes replaced with something softer. "He cares for us. He really does. I don't know if it's genuine love or something he has mistaken for love, but it doesn't change what Issei would do for us. What he almost did for me before I stopped him. The way he looks at me, at you, I don't care if he's a child for now. I'm going to do what I can to make sure I see more of it."

"You, you're serious." Jasmine blinked in genuine astonishment. She couldn't even contemplate putting words to what she was thinking and feeling at that very moment.

"This isn't normal, even by Devil and Yokai standards, but the same could be said about Issei in general. Even if you ignore his goals, it's obvious that he's different. Fundamentally. As much as you want to treat and see him as just some human child with some special abilities, you know that's not the case."

Kuroka shook her head. "Do you know what I feel whenever he's around? A Dragon. An apex beast. A potential mate. Power. My instincts scream at me constantly that he is someone that will be a world power in the future. One way or another, Issei changes things the moment he sets his mind on something, and he sees absolutely nothing wrong or peculiar about it. And with all that power, all that potential, he just, wants me to be happy. Us, to be happy."

Jasmine couldn't help but laugh bitterly before closing the distance and giving the tearing up Nekoshou a hug. "You better not let him hear you say that. You know he hates it whenever people start talking about how strong or important he is. Hypocritical little nut is gonna be one of the most powerful people on the planet at this rate, and yet somehow he couldn't give two shits about any of that. The power. The money. The fame. Like you said, the only thing he cares about…"

"Is us." Kuroka nodded. From one perspective, the very idea was enough to send any girl's heart aflutter. From another though, it just underscored just how unnatural Issei was to his core.

"An educated prostitute, a stray cat, and from what I can tell the world's thirstiest Dragon King. Oh, and he's just started aiming for a pedophile nun." Jasmine ran her fingers through her lustrous black hair in frustration. "I don't know who to pity more. Him or us."

Kuroka giggled. "Well, since you included Tiamat-sama, I'd say Issei. She's too much woman for even him to handle."

"Why do you think I have her contact information?" Nothing, and she truly meant nothing got Issei to behave faster than the threat of being exposed to Tiamat again.

They still didn't know why exactly the Dragon King was so enamored with the Sekiryutei so ungodly fast that before anyone had a chance to react the blue beauty had declared him her mate and had nearly kidnapped him.

She nearly got away with it too. That is until Issei used his Blind Eternity to escape and vanish.

She still didn't know what it did exactly, but it must have been something ridiculous for Issei to refer to it as his "Jojo final boss bullshit power".

As far as Jasmine knew, that was the only time that the boy had actually been forced into a situation where he needed to use his secondary Sacred Gear.

Ghost clearly knew what had happened and found it absolutely hilarious, but the jerk found it just as amusing to watch everyone bang their heads trying to figure it out while Issei had panic attacks whenever Tiamat's name was brought up afterwards.

Ddraig also knew as well, but unlike his asshole roommate, he stayed quiet for more sane reasons. He did explain that Issei's and Tiamat's core natures were unnaturally in tune with one another as far as Dragons went. He refrained from flat out stating what said natures were however, which was understandable. A Dragon's nature was an extremely private topic and was not something that was discussed openly.

That said, it should be noted that Issei did not actually know what his was just yet, even if he did act and express it near perpetually according to Ddraig, Ophis, and Ghost.

Tiamat though, supposedly had not been doing the same, and had been unintentionally restraining herself for centuries to the point that she had forgotten that she was doing it in the first place.

Those restrains had more or less shattered the moment she had recognized the boy's compatibility with her, and had as a result now loses all control over herself whenever he's around. When he's not around she returns to normal for the most part, but remains adamant (albeit somewhat reluctantly) that the boy is her intended.

Trying to reason otherwise, or convince her that jumping an eleven year old child was in poor taste, was not recommended for one's personal health.

Azazel had a field day when he found out that Chaos Karma Dragon Tiamat was a closet tsundere. At Issei's expense.

Kuroka giggled, giving Jasmine a sultry look. "I might just ask you to share the Dragon King's information later. It would be nice to speak with some of my fellow harem mates."

"Ugh. Don't you start with that too."

"Why not? It's not as if you haven't made your decision already."

"… I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh?" The Nekosho purred knowingly, her eyes peering at Jasmine's Sacred Gear. A Sacred Gear that had recently evolved and mutated recently to do one thing, and one thing specifically. "I think you do."

o. o. o.

Present Day:

"It's kinda stupid when you think about it, isn't it?" He spoke out in genuine amusement as he looked at the simple Japanese house. "How long has it been since we've been here? All the crap have we gone through over the years, and yet walking through the front door of a place as lame looking as this is harder than most of that."

"It's like Ghost always said. It's always the dumbest things jacked to the extremes that wind up being the scariest." His female companion sighed. "I hate it when that asshole is right."

"Everyone does Jas. Everyone does."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… So do you wanna open the door or-"

"Oh for fucks sake. So much for the battle junkie Hakuryutei."

"Oi. You know full well I only run towards fights I know I might actually enjoy." Vali Lucifer chuckled as he followed one of his oldest and closest friends towards one of the few places that he could consider a home.

"Pussy." The woman rolled her eyes as she pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the door to the Hyodou residence before opening it. "Hello? Is anyone home? Asami, are you in?"

From her perspective, she did not see anything amiss with her actions. She did however find it concerning that there were nearly half a dozen teens, correction, Devils, sitting in the living room.

Wonderful. She hadn't even talked to Issei yet and her patience was already starting to wane.

From the Devils' perspective, the very idea of having anyone barge into the house so carelessly just two days after Issei's near apocalyptic meltdown was enough to have them have a bit of a freakout themselves.

The woman at the front door was human, but without question beautiful and in her early twenties. Tall with long sleek black hair that seemed to drink in the light around her and a figure that somehow seemed to surpass Rias' and Akeno's natural curvy frames by having a mature something extra that the other two lacked. It would not be surprising if she had spent time as a model or actress.

She was dressed in rather casual, yet form fitting clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary, but she made them exceptional just by wearing them. Furry tan designer boots that went up to her mid calves, followed by dark stockings that hugged her perfect legs. Those in turn were hidden at the knees by a jean skirt that flowed freely, but hugged just enough to show the general outline of her legs and hips. Her top was a simple thick black halter that covered all of her front but hugged everything tight enough that there was no need to see the outline of her generous breasts.

She looked displeased by the crowd in the room.

They in turn looked a cross between stupefied and horrified.

"That voice, it couldn't be…" Thankfully, before any madness could break out, Asami walked out from the kitchen confused, only to see her new guest. "Jasmine? Is that you?"

The woman's expression softened as she saw a familiar face. "Hey. Long time no see."

Ignoring her confused guests' expressions, Asami teared up almost instantly and rushed towards the newcomer and immediately gave her an affectionate hug and kissed her on both cheeks. "Jasmine! It's been years, and yet you return now of all times?"

"That's kinda the point." Vali peeked his head in from behind Jasmine. "Heya Auntie A."

"Vali too?" Asami's smile widened even more as she moved to the second guest and greeted him with an equally tight hug. "If I knew this was what it took to get you two to actually visit I would have tried to stage something years ago."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but for the idiot's sake it probably would have been for the best if you didn't." The silver haired pretty boy chuckled as he patted her on the back. Asami was one of the few people that he genuinely felt completely at ease with. The family member that he could go to that he never had growing up after he was taken away from his original mother. "How you holding up? I know better than to question the moron's skills, but you never know."

"I'm fine. A bit sore still, but it should pass. Issei isn't what he used to be, but he hasn't lost his touch thankfully." Asami's hold on him tightened for a moment before letting go, turning to Jasmine again. "You two, you should have told me that you were coming over."

"Azazel wanted it to be a surprise." Jasmine smiled, though it waned a bit as she glanced at the other guests in the house. "Though it looks like he skipped out on a few details for us in kind."

"I'm more surprised that Issei hasn't lost his shit with so many here at once." Vali looked genuinely impressed by the sight. Even before everything went to hell, Issei did not appreciate having many people in his territory simultaneously. The only exception to that rule were potential and current members of his harem, and there was no way in hell he was going to touch that topic in the near future.

"We could say the same." Rias looked at the two skeptically. "If you know about Issei, how are you able to enter the house without…"

"Him coming for blood in a blind wrath with the subtlety of an avalanche?" Vali smirked. It felt good being the one that actually knew things for once. He blamed Issei and Azazel for being secretive pricks.

A silver line divided the world in two, striking like a whip with the vicious absolution of divine lightning.

Chills went down the spines of everyone in the room.

Slap!

"Vali! I told you none of that in the house!" Asami chided, smacking the teen upside the head just like she would her own son.

"Damn it Auntie A. I'm not a kid anymore. You don't smack people taller than you." Despite his tough words, Vali only pouted like a child and rubbed the back of his head.

"My house my rules. If Issei still suffers for being a fool, then you do to Vali. No exceptions. If you don't want me to remind you when you're being as ridiculous as my son, then grow tall enough for me not to reach that empty skull of yours." The woman fearlessly held her ground.

"Tch. You haven't changed a bit."

"That was… Presence." Rias' eyes dilated in genuine astonishment. She had known that there were at least two other users somewhere out there in the world that knew Issei, but she didn't think that she'd be meeting one of them so soon.

"Asami. I'm gonna go see our idiot now and beat some sense into him. Fuck knows he needs it." While the Devils were dumbstruck in the living room, Jasmine had already climbed up the bulk of the stairs.

"Don't be too hard on him Jasmine. He's not as resilient as he used to be, no matter how much he tries to pretend otherwise. He's still in a bit of a funk from this latest mess." Issei's mother looked up with a happy, if not slightly worried expression.

The woman gave her a confident thumbs up as she reached the top of the stairs. "Don't worry. You know that I'm the best person there is when it comes to dealing with Issei. I won't go too far."

"She's going to go too far." Vali deadpanned as Jasmine reached Issei's bedroom door.

"Sadly too far's the bare minimum needed when Issei's involved." Asami's expression matched his as the woman threw said door open and marched inside without a care in the world.

For the briefest of moments the house shook. For the briefest of moments, a swell of anger building like a volcano was felt. For the briefest of moments the very air in the building spiked.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The moment after that briefest of moments, Issei screamed in horror like a little girl.

The Sekiryutei bolted out of his room, his sacrosanct sanctuary, like a bat out of hell. He almost made it to the stairs when-

"Issei. Stop."

An order made in the most beautiful voice ever conceived froze him in place as though time had lost meaning.

Everyone in the house shivered to some extent, however what few noticed immediately was that Saji had more or less been petrified just as badly as Issei had.

"Come back Issei. We have so much to talk about."

Clearly moving against its owner's will if his look of terror was any indication, Issei's body turned around and with jerking motions marched itself back into his room, closing the door behind him.

"I almost pity him." Asami sighed whimsically as the familiar sound of Jasmine manhandling her son for doing something stupid was heard throughout the house.

"I don't." Vali shamelessly shrugged as the house shook, no doubt from a heavier blow. Probably one of Jasmine's heel drops. "Issei drove her nuts for so long that smacking 'round one of us has become a near essential in her daily routine. Since I'm practically her bodyguard, she's been beating me senseless for years."

Beating him senseless was admittedly a bit of a harsh way of putting it, but at the same time not. Jasmine did actually put some force into her strikes when dealing with the current Dragon Emperors, but only because the two were so overpowered and had such thick skulls that she needed the extra umph in order to get her message to actually sink in.

"Please Vali, don't play innocent. You're just as bad as Issei. You might be her bodyguard, but she's no doubt still your babysitter. Odds are you would have tried to start a new world war or joined a fight club cult or something ridiculous without her keeping you in line." Asami chided.

"Can't argue that." He didn't defend himself in the slightest as Issei let out another desperate squeal for help. "… This is probably going to go on for a while so can I…"

"The fridge is open for you anytime Vali. You don't need to ask."

"You spoil us Auntie A." He turned to the kitchen but paused to see his way partially blocked by several members of the Gremory and Sitri peerages. "Oh right. You guys are here."

"Pardon us for being blunt, but who are you?" Rias asked warily.

"He's a ward of Azazel-sama." Raynare spoke up from the living room, giving the Hyakuryutei an unreadable look. It was blatantly clear that she knew exactly who he was, and Jasmine for that matter. "And apparently one of the few people the murder victim upstairs can tolerate."

"Tolerate's a bit of a strong word." Vali chuckled. "More like he couldn't get rid of me. Technically speaking, I spent a bit of time stalking him when we were kids."

"Oh? Do tell." Akeno purred, clearly wanting details.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but it was pretty straight forward. I wanted to prove I was stronger than he was. And he didn't give two shits about strength. I pushed his buttons. And he kicked my ass." He shrugged helplessly. "I was an angry kid that didn't take loosing well, and Issei, well he's got a bit of a one track mind if you haven't noticed already."

That said, he would make sure that he kept the stories of being shoved in boxes with sex toys on Azazel's doorstep on a need to know basis. No one needed to know, so he made sure that no one would know. Ever.

He also made sure not to draw attention to the knowing and somewhat evil smile that Asami was making behind him.

One day. One day he would find those damn pictures the woman took and burn them all.

"Aw." The lewd priestess pouted.

"Sounds like the perv." Koneko droned, getting nods of agreement from the others.

"Against my better judgment, what does he call you?" Sona shifting her glasses and preparing for the worst.

"Ass-man." Years of experience allowed Vali to say his unwanted title with a completely straight face.

"You're serious." Her face scrunched up in disbelief, as did most of the others in the room.

"Oh. So you're Ass-man." Gasper's eyes lit up in recognition. "Sempai sometimes talks about you. Mostly when he screws up something and hopes you don't find out about it."

"Sounds about right." Vali smirked. "If there's one thing you can rely on him to do better than anyone else, that isn't at your expense, it's humiliating himself."

A loud shake and high pitched squeal was heard upstairs.

"In spades." Koneko commented, once again getting everyone to nod in unison.

"Dare I ask…?" Rias started slowly.

"My first kink." He shrugged helplessly. "Made the mistake of asking him for advice when we were kids since he's a living encyclopedia for that kind of stuff. Even back then."

"Mistake is putting it lightly." Asami snorted. "I remember the literal boxes of material he got for you for your birthday after he found out."

Vali and Asami shivered at the memory. Issei had literally redefined the term "asses for days" for them.

"Wait." Akeno frowned as she put the pieces together. "If you're Ass-man, then the woman upstairs is…"

"Nee-san." Vali nodded. "And she's literally the only person on the planet that can control Issei, even at his worst."

"Who is she?" Sona crossed her arms. "I don't know why, but I know I've seen her before."

"You too?" Rias hummed.

"I thought I was the only one." Akeno added.

"Same." Gasper was blatantly confused at this point.

"Ok, this is really weird. And getting annoying." Saji was clearly irritated by the coincidence. "Oi, silver ass man person. Can you tell us who she is? Or is that another annoying secret that we're not allowed to know about?"

"Relax. Issei's a messed up story all around that's kept under lock and key, but Nee-san's isn't. Her name's Jasmine Redsmith…"

"The Dragon's Lullaby?!" Rias and Sona gaped.

"The Porn Star?!" Akeno and Saji's heads shot up.

"The Voice Actress?!" Gasper looked genuinely excited.

The room suddenly became awkwardly quiet, save for Asami trying to hide her laughter.

"I can already see where this is going." Koneko grumbled darkly.

"Porn Star?" Sona looked at Saji with an ominous yet unreadable expression.

"Wh-what? I-is it so hard to believe I know a name or two?" The accused tried to defend himself, but it was hard to do while trying to avoid eye contact.

"In his defense, there is a rather famous Porn actress that goes by that name these past few years. She also happens to be a rather talented voice actress that has done work in several recent anime and games." Akeno elaborated, looking at Gasper.

"I-I thought that the Porn Actress and the VA were different people and that people were just making rumors." Gasper blushed, embarrassed. "Who's the Dragon's Lullaby?"

Rias sighed and shook her head. "The Dragon's Lullaby is the main reason why the Three Factions' relationships with the Dragons hasn't completely fallen through yet. She wields the Sacred Gear Siren's Harmony, but it has mutated into a variant that allows her to calm down any Dragon that hears her voice. Outside of her name and ability, most information about her is considered highly confidential for her protection. There were rumors that she was the Porn star that you spoke of but that's long since been proven false since no one in their right mind would make such an important figure a sex idol."

"Nope. It's true." Vali shot down her statement with a smirk. "Nee-san's all of the above. Porn. Anime. And the one that serenades big scaly titans every other week or so."

The upstairs part of the house shuddered for a moment, before a long and pitiful moan was heard in the background.

"Your definition of serenade is fucked up." Koneko spoke her mind bluntly.

"In her defense, you can consider that a private song meant just for the jackass." He couldn't argue against the accusation if he tried.

"Rumor has it that she can make anyone cum just by moaning." Saji looked up at Issei's room before pausing to notice almost everyone staring at him. "Wh-what?! It's true! Look it up!"

"It's true. I've been around more than once when she's done it." Vali shook his head. "And before you ask, yes, Issei was the one responsible for giving her that idea in the first place. Can't tell you how many times she caught me off guard in public with it as a joke before I finally got used to it."

"Of course." Sona covered her eyes with a hand. "Of course the largest asset the Three Factions has against Dragons is involved in this. Why wouldn't I expect something this ridiculous by now?"

"Because you held hope that the world made more sense than that." Vali nodded in knowing pity. He had been in the same boat for a very long time, and knew what it felt like.

"Please don't damage my world view more than it already has."

"Sorry. You're gonna need the constant reminders until you've adapted. Just like everyone else." He smirked before looking around. "Speaking of everyone else, I thought there was supposed to be a nun staying here."

"She's out with members of our peerage shopping for clothes and essentials." Rias explained. "She has a full guard with her."

"Oooh? I suppose that'll do this time." Nobody missed Vali's sharp stare bore directly into Rias' eyes, causing her to suppress a shiver.

"Vali. None of that here." Asami chided, unaffected by his clear hostility. "It's been a while but you know the rules. This house is a neutral zone."

"Haaaai."

"Neutral… forgive me for being blunt, but how much do you actually know about us Asami-san?" Sona clearly reached the end of her patience and asked one of the questions that had been driving most of them mad for days.

The woman's mouth twitched in amusement. "I have a cursory knowledge about your side of things, Sona-chan. Devils. Dragons. Angels. I feel like I'm in a cheap fantasy novel at times. Enough to know the general state of affairs and keep up with most of your conversations. However outside of your siblings, Azazel-san, and a few others, I'm not that up to date with who's who and who's related to who and current events and all that rubbish. Nor do I care for that matter. I've always felt that politics causes more issues than solves."

"That said, it doesn't stop you from playing oblivious around everyone just to see them flounder about trying to skirt around topics for your own amusement." Vali deadpanned, clearly not buying her suddenly painful innocent smile.

"I'm starting to see where Issei got some of his bad habits from." Sona all but accused.

"It passes the time."

"Wait…" Raynare slowly lifted her head to look at Asami skeptically. "Does that mean…"

Her smile widened. "Yes Raynare-chan, I knew that you weren't Azazel-san's niece before you came here. I just played along with it to see how long we could keep you going. Issei, Azazel-san, and I actually had a wager to see how long I could keep it up without you catching on."

On a side note, the wager was null and void due to outside interference. Pity. She was two weeks away from an all-expenses paid week long trip to Hawaii.

"Son of a bitch! You mean I was perpetually faking being a fucking wall flower for over three months for nothing?!"

The mother hummed in amusement. "I wouldn't go as far as to say perpetually. You weren't exactly too careful about your façade all those times you came in the middle of the night drunk enough that you mistook me for my son. Personally, I'm impressed you found the right house some nights."

Issei had dubbed the task of taking care of Raynare after her late night stints as "cougar watch". They had a schedule for who was on deck and everything.

The sounds that came out of the embarrassed and beet red faced Fallen's mouth were not words, but an amalgamation of distressed noises expected from a dying giraffe.

"Definitely where he got his bad habits from." Koneko stated flatly, getting several nods of agreement all around. Both mother and son were closet sadists that enjoyed humiliating others. Only difference was that Asami clearly preferred playing the long game.

Vali edged around the group to make way to the kitchen. "Excuse me. Just gonna get a drink. Auntie, is there anything off limits in the kitchen?"

"You touch my blue label and I'll tan your hide. Don't you dare assume I forgot what happened the last time you snuck into my liquor cabinet."

"Oh trust me Auntie, I'd never forget the reaming you gave me, no matter how smashed I was at the time." A genuine bark of a laugh echoed through the room as the door closed behind him.

"Cheeky brat." Asami huffed.

"He seems, nice." Rias tried to put together what she just saw while ignoring the chaos still happening upstairs. "It's hard to believe that someone like that is Issei's friend."

Where Issei was belligerent, sloppy, and an utter mess, Vali was amicable, good looking, and tidy. If someone told her that he was a male model, she would believe them.

"You'd think that, but back when they were kids Issei was actually the easy one to deal with." The mother shook her head. "Little Vali was a troublemaker that was constantly picking fights and had a serious attitude problem. And then he met Issei, and he spent most of his time between being angry that he couldn't beat my son up in a fight, and angry that my son was an overpowered nutcase that didn't care about the fact he constantly shut down Vali in the first place."

"How on earth did they wind up being friends then?" Sona asked, curious about the story.

She shrugged. "Don't know. One day Vali just started focusing on training and not actually picking fights. Most I can tell is that my son actually took the time to say something particularly revolutionary and world shattering to him, but both of them always skirt around the matter whenever anyone asks. Either way, the two respect one another more than anyone else out there, even if they still drive one another mad. I've seen them have entire conversations without saying a single word."

"It's not that hard to do once you figure the guy out." Vali appeared from the kitchen again with a glass of water. "Issei's an open book most of the time and he's not exactly shy about letting others know how he feels about something. It's when he purposefully closes himself off that you gotta start worrying."

"We've noticed. He gets real nasty if you try to push him." Rias agreed.

Vali smirked. "That's one way of putting it. I still don't know how he's able to pick apart someone's psyche so damn fast. I've seen him make adults cry and lose their shit after they try and force their agendas on him when we were kids. That guy really has no mercy if shoved in a corner. And people say I'm a mean bastard."

The sound of breaking glass was clearly heard upstairs.

"And he jumped out the window again." Asami sighed. Judging from her reaction, this wasn't a new thing. "Well at least he's getting some fresh air."

"Then again, he's also a complete pussy when it comes to some people." He shamelessly corrected himself.

"Better head him off now before he runs and gets lost again." Asami turned for the front door, talking as if she was about to go and get groceries.

"Wait, he actually gets lost now? I thought that was a joke."

"If only." She walked outside. "I shouldn't be long. Hopefully Jas managed to paralyze him before he could move much."

"Yell if you need me to smack him around a bit."

"Don't be ridiculous Vali. You were going to do that regardless sometime today."

"Common courtesy Auntie."

"Ugh. Boys." Asami sarcastically groaned as she closed the door behind her and made her way to where Issei tried to make his escape.

"God I missed that woman." He grinned. "You have no idea how hard it is to find a person that you can be genuinely honest with and get an equal treatment in kind these days. Especially when you're mired in as much absurd bullshit as I do."

"You don't visit often?" Rias skeptically asked.

"Can't. I'm perpetually guarding Nee-san, and Issei would be after my head if anything happened to her. As for why we both don't come frequently, well, he's supposed to be dead, and all sorts of eyes are on us. Surprised Azazel managed to set this trip so fast."

He glanced at the people in the room with an empty stare. "You guys must have really fucked up to make this happen. I felt his Presence all the way in Amsterdam."

There was no mistaking it. Behind his casual tone, body language, and expression, he was incredibly pissed off at the accused.

"That's big talk from someone that wasn't even here." Sona held her ground firmly. After spending so much time in Issei's home with shot nerves, her ability to gage the situation had degraded slightly.

"Oi. Enabler. Shut it." Raynare cut in. "Even if all of us ganged up we wouldn't be able to take that guy. It's an open secret in the Grigori that Vali moonlights as a cleaner for Azazel-sama. He's ultimate class at bare minimum."

The statement caused the Devils to freeze. Ultimate class beings were the penultimate ranking of power, just short of the fabled and technically unofficial "Maou" class. To be labeled as one was an elite privilege that came with its own risks. Anyone that claimed to be one was expected to back it up eventually, or their lies would be laid bare uncomfortably quickly.

"Well said, considering you're the one who I would have killed regardless of what happened if it weren't for the fact that Issei personally stuck his neck out for you." Vali's cold stare turned to Raynare.

The Fallen shivered as she was forced to stare down a second mythological apex predator in a few days. "If you want to find out, get it from him. You know how bad he can get better than almost anyone else if you try to play games around it."

"Humph. And that's the only reason why I'm not getting it from your strangled neck. Make no mistake, after I first heard what happened, my first instinct was to tear your worthless ass apart, and I was not the only one of that opinion."

"I figured. But the fact I'm still here means that if I ever do screw up again, you'd all have to wait in line behind the monster that's worse than all of urk?!"

Raynare's bluster was cut off as Vali seemingly teleported and was now holding her up by the neck with one hand. By the time the Devils had realized he had moved, he was already strangling the flailing Fallen.

"Never. Call him. A monster." Vali growled maliciously, his eyes shining with malevolence with each word uttered. "That idiot was a fucking unbearable saint until you useless winged clowns started getting played by your own damn games and-"

"Vali. That's enough." The overpowering young man stilled as Jasmine walked down the stairs. "We came here to get Issei's head out of his ass. Not add more fuel to the fire. Let go of his pet. Her life doesn't belong to her anymore regardless."

His narrowed eyes clearly indicated that he didn't agree with his orders, but relented regardless, dropping Raynare back on the couch. "Tch. Five minutes just being near him and I'm already acting like a damn child again. Even now I can't keep calm around that guy."

"That's why I went to see him first. If you barged in like you normally do, the two of you morons would greet one another by beating one another senseless and completely forget to say Hi." Jasmine crossed her arms and gave him a dry stare.

"I'm pretty sure he'd prefer that to the one sided maiming that you were giving him." He shot back. "You know he'd never raise a finger against you even if his life depended on it."

"Please, he'd be raising far more than a finger for me if he wasn't such a wreck. You aren't the only one that's filled out over the years."

In spite of everyone's expectations from Jasmine's statement, Vali's frown only deepened. "Oi, Nee-san. You really think that's a good idea to play with? No, actually, I'm pretty sure that if you even tried to actually flirt with him, Issei would freak out and assume that you were dying."

"Hilarious. The Gods forbid I remind him that he's not a pre-teen and I'm not into pedophilia anymore. Lord execute me if he gets a genuine confidence boost for the first time in over half a decade. Because knowing Issei, kicking your ass, making a fortune in investments, saving lives, and most other monumental life achievements that others have doesn't even register."

The depressing thing is that everything she said is completely true. Vali scratched his head in frustration. "Knowing him, he probably even forgot that he grew up himself."

"He did." Akeno commented, reminding the pair that they were not alone in the room.

"Come again?" Jasmine blinked, her earlier irritation at Vali's display of violence quickly forgotten.

Judging from Vali's expression, he was in a similar boat.

"He forgot he grew up, for lack of a better term." The Queen elaborated. "He was having another one of his ranting meltdown last week when he realized that he was undergoing what he called Dragonic Puberty. It threw him off pretty badly at the time."

"Wait. He actually forgot how hard puberty would hit him?" Vali gaped, clearly caught blindsided by the revelation. "That… Hypocrite! After that asshole put me through all that hell to teach me about how dangerous it was for us not to take care of ourselves because of our Sacred Gears, he goes and just forgets?!"

"Please, you make it sound like that's the first time he's forgotten about making you suffer." Jasmine deadpanned.

"He tied me down and gave me a version of The Talk that lasted for Days! Azazel genuinely contemplated paying Issei for saving him the trouble when he found out while laughing his ass off!"

"Oh? Do tell." Akeno blushed.

"Don't you even dare get off on this woman!"

"Wait. If he only recently realized his condition, that means he really is more liable to go out of control than normal." Jasmine frowned, turning to the Devils and Raynare again. "How have you managed to deal with him? Getting him under control in private is easy enough but in public…"

"There's actually a way to get him to calm down!?" Sona's head shot up, as did everyone else. "We've been stuck either letting him burn out or trying to distract him with other projects since the school year started."

"The only other way we know of that has any effect is Akeno's tea, but that stuff works more like a tranquilizer than a downer." Rias added, getting nods of agreement from the others.

"Tell us. For the love of our sanity. TELL US." Koneko stared at them with pleading eyes.

Jasmine and Vali stepped back in momentary surprise. "Wait, you mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Several devils asked in unison.

It was at that moment that Asami dragged Issei back into the house via deathgrip on his ear. It only took her one moment to look at her guests to find out that something happened. "… Should I be using my son as a meat shield right now?"

"Depends." Jasmine deadpanned. "Did you conveniently forget to tell these something they should have known about said meat shield?"

"The meat shield is still here. The meat shield wants to unionize." Issei grimaced, unable to escape his mom's grip. His struggles only paused momentarily as he noticed Vali nearby.

"Ass-man."

"Tit-monger."

With their mutual lackluster greetings done, Issei resumed his efforts to free himself as if nothing happened.

Asami looked around skeptically before slowly moving her son into position. "Not exactly sure what you're talking about but I'm getting a feeling I should assume the position."

Vali gave her a dry look. "You forgot to let these scrubs know the shortcut to calming down the idiot."

The mother blinked several times before a small blush grew on her cheeks. "… Oh come on Vali. Do you really think that would still work after all these-"

"Ass beats tits all day every day for all time."

At Vali's declaration, Issei stood up at attention with righteous rage in his eyes and fists raised to defend his ideals, moving so quickly that his mother lost hold of his ear. "You wanna go again Rim Whore?! I'm out of practice but I'll still smack you so hard you'll wake up in Hokkaido! When I'm done with you-!"

Just as he was about to make another declaration for truth justice and all things oppai, Jasmine walked up next to him, grabbed one of his hands, and placed it on one of her breasts.

"Mmmmm."

The effect was literally instantaneous. The second his hand met her chest, all energy left his body and face. His shoulders slumped, his body slumped, and his face relaxed to the point that he resembled a halfway conscious cat.

After three seconds, Jasmine took his hand off her chest.

"-For the pride and glory of all Oppai everywhere, I will not let your blasphemous-"

And back on it went.

"Mmmmmm."

And off.

"-Decades of repentance! Scores of tales will be sung of your despicable-"

And on.

"Mmmmm."

And off.

"WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT?!" At this point, Issei was giving Jasmine his full attention, complete with bugging eyes, fully transformed mouth, and even some flaming breath to underscore just how distressed he was.

"…"

"…"

"…"

… And on again.

"Mmmmmmm."

Jasmine turned to the gaping teens who were staring at the display as if they had all grown second heads. More than a few eyes were twitching erratically.

Asami groaned, trying to hide her face in her hands. "I hoped. I truly hoped that he had grown out of that."

"A false a hope if I've ever seen one." Vali looked up at the ceiling.

"It's like he literally has an off switch." Saji couldn't turn away from what he was seeing. "A breast operated off switch."

"I hate myself." Sona's face was completely devoid of emotions. "I hate myself for holding out any sort of expectation that what you would show me would give me faith in the world once more. I hope you are all happy with yourselves."

Jasmine didn't even try to hide her smirk. "If you shove his head between your breasts he purrs."

"And now I hate you."

"Do it. I won't believe it until I see it for myself." Akeno was clearly of a different opinion.

"I swear you are the thirstiest virgin in denial ever recorded." Raynare looked at the Queen.

"Uh." Gasper lifted a hand up tentatively. "Not to interrupt, but how exactly is anyone supposed to do, well, that? Sempai doesn't like being touched in general."

"That? Oh that's aaaaaangh." Jasmine moaned as Issei's hand started to grope her on its own violation.

Nearly everyone in the room blushed at the same time, and in Saji's case, actually hunched over and put his hands between his legs.

"Wh-what the heck?" Gasper stammered, hands on his skirt and looking around nervously.

"I-it looks like what Saji-kun said was true." Akeno blushed while rubbing her legs together. "Her moans are unusually… sensual."

"Nee-san." Vali shook his head in embarrassment.

"S-sorry! Sorry! I forgot just how, oh shit, how good Issei is at foreplay. He unconsciously mixes in a little bit of white and lightning magic to FUCK!" Jasmine flushed as she allowed herself to continue to be molested. "My Sacred Geeeaaaar sometimes magnifies some of the sounds and emotions I feel on its own."

"Then take his hand off your tit!" Koneko snapped desperately trying to block out the moans by covering her ears with her hands.

Unfortunately for her, she had four ears, even if two of them were normally hidden.

Akeno in particular couldn't care less about Koneko's plight. She was too busy engraving the show in front of her into her memories for future research and fap material.

"Hold on." Jasmine rushed over to the nearest couch, taking Issei with her. With quick, yet practiced moments, she sat to one side and dragged him over so that his head rested on her lap, taking his hand off her chest in the process, resulting in in the familiar scene of a couple and a lap pillow. The entire time, Issei just went with her actions as if he was in a delirious half-conscious state, allowing his body to go completely lax on her legs at the end and become fully oblivious to the world.

"Lucky bastard." Saji hissed, only to get pinched on the side by Sona.

"Son of a bitch. I'm gonna be horny and tender for hours." She swore and breathed out slowly, her flush ebbing away in the process. Judging from how she was shifting around, she was holding back the urge to massage the breast that had been at Issei's tender mercies. "Ok. Ok. Back what I was saying. You're right. Issei's harder to deal with than before. If you're gonna make him grope you to calm him down, just be fast about it. Real fast. Also be sure be sure that you're not trying to take advantage of him or do him harm. He has an innate instinct when it comes to that, and no amount of skin contact will calm him down if you try to pull a fast one on him."

Best not tell them of that absurd pseudo mind/boob reading power of his. There was only so much exposition she could handle and she really didn't like telling anyone the story of how that ability came about. She swear she felt her soul die a little every time she had to repeat it.

Judging from the subtle look Vali gave her, he was of the same opinion.

"As for the lap pillow, well, just make sure that you position his head right or you're not wearing a skirt. Otherwise he'll unconsciously start to pleasure you another way if you don't pay attention." And good GOD she wished she could deny that he was any worse with his tongue than he was with his hands.

The less she potentially incriminated herself with pedophilia the better.

Dragon tongues people. They were more than simply fire proof.

"You're joking." Koneko stared daggers at Jasmine before turning pleading eyes at Asami. "Please tell me she's joking."

"She's not joking." The mother wept.

Rias was infinitely grateful that she was standing near the back of the group and couldn't see that her face had momentarily taken the same hue of red as her hair.

"The more important thing you have to worry about is the fact that once he gets settled, he's out for hours. So if any of you try this, know you're stuck for a while." Jasmine smiled looking down at the teen who already looked like a puppet with its strings cut. The deep dark bags under his eyes had not escaped her notice the moment she saw him after so long. "Issei's always been the type that drives himself to exhaustion for one reason or another. Even as a child. He's notoriously susceptible to sleeping spells and abilities if his guard is down. The problem is his paranoia is just as absurd and will counteract this if he senses something is off."

"PRRRRRRRR."

A deep rumbling caused the room to shake slightly.

"He's purring." Akeno's eyes lit up like it was Christmas. "He's actually purring."

"Yeah. He does that." Jasmine smirked. "Vali too."

"One time, Nee-san. ONE. TIME, and you can't ever let me live it down, can you?" Clearly he didn't seem as amused by the fact as everyone else did.

"I'm recording this." Akeno didn't seem to care at all about Vali as she took out her cell phone.

"You wouldn't be the first." Asami shook her head with a dry smile.

"Like I said though, once he's out, he's out." Jasmine underscored her statement by grabbing some of Issei's hair and lifting his head up for everyone to see. She then began to poke his face and play with his nose and mouth with no repercussions whatsoever. "A fun game we used to play is we'd draw on his face and wait and see how long it takes for him to notice it."

"Record's nine days." Vali grinned. "We used invisible ink that time that only showed up when it was glowing in the dark. Drove him nuts."

Particularly because Vali had written "celibate for life" across his forehead.

"Regardless, if any of you want to ask questions, now's the time to do it." Jasmine sighed as she dropped her charge's head on her lap again. She was glad she used the bathroom before coming downstairs.

What she didn't expect was for Issei to unconsciously, and loudly breathe in while face first in her thighs.

"PRRRRRRRRRRRR."

Everyone stared and blinked at Issei's renewed and invigorated display of affection.

"That's, new." Jasmine slowly stated, clearly processing the new behavior before looking at Asami for answers.

The woman in question merely shrugged helplessly, clearly knowing as much as everyone else.

"One thing at a time, Nee-san." Vali sighed. "For everyone's sakes, let's just focus on Q&A's. Stick with what we know for now."

All heads bobbed in agreement.

"How did you two meet?" Gasper asked curiously, surprising everyone by going first.

"He picked me up outside a strip club I worked at."

"Must you be like that? It's a legitimate question." Sona frowned.

"I'm serious. That's how it happened. Technically he had been bugging me to be his friend for a couple of weeks before that, but I gave up there. That stubborn streak of his is one of his defining traits, even as a kid."

"It makes sense." Gasper frowned as he tried to picture the situation. "… Except, I have trouble seeing Sempai actually going out of his way to try to be close to others."

Jasmine, Asami, and Vali grimaced. "Yeah, well, you could say that's part of the changes that took place when he got screwed over. He was never fond of crowds, but he didn't shun the world like he does now."

"Can you tell us more about how he was back then?" Rias asked, genuinely curious.

The question made Jasmine pause only for a half a second before she gave the Gremory a calculating look and letting it go with a sigh. "Not sure what you're expecting from me that Auntie hasn't told you already."

She looked down at Issei with a look that displayed nothing but care and concern. "He used to smile a lot. Always busy with one ridiculous project or another. Wasn't uncommon that I had him like this on my lap just to make sure he got any sleep at all. He was always on the move. Always for…"

She stilled, as did Vali and Asami. It was blatantly clear that she had almost said something that she shouldn't have.

"For what?" Koneko asked curiously.

"For something that's better left untouched." Vali scowled. He was clearly focused on something else than the girl when he spoke up.

"Anyways, like I said before, he didn't shun the world back then." Jasmine tried to steer the topic away from the landmine. "He wasn't exactly adored by everyone that met him, mind you. That abrasive personality of his was always there to one degree or another. But he didn't purposefully antagonize others. Just the opposite. Anyone that managed to breach a certain threshold had trouble getting rid of him."

"Any woman."

"Any woman." Jasmine rolled her eyes. "In case you haven't figured it out yet, he's a pervert."

"The Savant of Perverts. A perv that all other pervs would bow down to and worship as their patron deity, or at the very least their Pope." Vali corrected. "Started reciting hymns about the marvels of oppai when he was five if I'm right."

"If I could just go back in time and strangle that hobo before he could utter a single word to my son…" Asami grumbled, clenching her hands into righteous motherly fists of wrath that oddly resembled the motions of snapping a chicken's neck.

"Vali. Be a dear and shut up please."

"Just giving them proper context. I don't know about you but I've never heard of Gods of lust and sex seriously talking shop to any other mortal and actually learning something significantly beneficial to their job other than with Issei."

"I have never been in a position where I simultaneously did and did not desire to know more about someone's backstory than I do right now." Sona hissed.

"That sounds about right." Vali nodded.

"I never said that being with him was easy." Jasmine shook her head. "That's never changed. Much of his personality now is still the same as it used to be, thankfully. It's just…"

"Just what?" Rias asked, confused.

She sighed. "Issei used to be, happy. Genuinely, honestly, happy. The kind of lighthearted cheer that could infect nearly anyone he came across. He used to have a drive. A goal. A focus. One that pushed him to do and be so much. His knowledge? The money and skills he has? His strength? They were all stepping stones for him. Great accomplishments for anyone individually, but just tools he wouldn't bother with if he didn't need them in the first place. He only really cared about the people close to him, and when he was taken advantage of the way he was…"

"He shut down." Akeno surmised, having been intimately familiar with the feeling of losing hope for everything in life.

"You should have seen him during the worst of it." Jasmine started to lose herself in her memories. "He barely said anything for months. Didn't do anything except watch porn until he passed out in front of the computer, only to wake up screaming an hour or two later. He wouldn't even eat unless we reminded him. He was a total mess."

The worst part though? The worst was when he would always ask "why?" whenever they did something for him. Why were they there? Why were they helping him? Why did they stick with him after all this time? Why did they think he was worth it? Why did they still want him around?

Always with those empty, lost eyes that had no life in them.

Even to this day, Jasmine feared from the pit of her stomach that Issei still didn't know or understand the answer to those seemingly obvious questions.

"You guys might see an unstable nut… well, he is an unstable nut, but this is still way better than he was back then. Better than we were expecting when we came here to be honest. The yelling. Random remarks. Ranting over stupid things. That's normal for him. That's part of what he used to be like. Only difference is that it's clear that he doesn't enjoy anything now. He's just… existing." Vali elaborated. Judging from the look of disgust from the last word he uttered, it was clear that the very idea of Issei in his current state disgusted him.

Everyone in the room stared at Issei, who was completely oblivious to the outside world for once. At some point during the conversation he had wrapped his arms around Jasmine's waist and was using her almost like a body pillow, hiding most of his face in the process but still showing just enough to expose just how relaxed he was. His normally strained and hard expression had devolved into an almost comical putty like blob of rare content and satisfaction.

But he wasn't happy.

From Rias' perspective, for the briefest of moments, she saw Jasmine sitting not on a couch with a human boy, but in a cave gently caressing the head of a familiar titanic red dragon, its countless scales lying flat and relaxed against its body. The two looked so in tune with one another that Rias felt like she was disturbing the scene just by watching.

And then Jasmine looked up right at her.

No words or accusations were made, but the message was blatantly clear that the human knew exactly what the Devil was witnessing, and was not thrilled about it.

"As touching as this all is, perhaps you could shed some light onto something that's been bugging us since the very start." Sona shifted her glasses. "Mainly, why exactly are we doing all of this in the first place? Why is Hyoudou so important to everyone that so many convoluted steps need to be taken for his sake? I understand that he is powerful, but that can't be all there is to it."

Vali's passive expression turned into one of disgust. "Ask your siblings. They're the ones that made a mess of everything in the first place by trying to play it safe."

"Vali…" Jasmine looked at him.

"If they're retarded enough to dig themselves another hole, then they're responsible for getting themselves out of it. If they try to drag us into their mess again, I'm kicking them down and throwing rocks on their skulls. Don't you dare try to defend them Nee-san. We aren't playing their games, and we aren't cleaning after them. Not again." He held his ground with a dangerous growl.

"You appear to have a grudge against our siblings." Sona frowned.

"Issei wasn't the only one they sold out for half-baked promises."

"Vali." Her tone turned hard.

He looked back at his charge and the two stared one another down, almost appearing as if they were about to have a full blown argument. It was blatantly clear that this wasn't the first time this has happened.

"Fine. Deal with the brats how you want." He looked away and walked over to the kitchen.

"Someone harbors a grudge." Akeno mused.

Asami and Jasmine shared a brief look before sighing in unison. "It's a long story."

Unlike the other Devils in the room, Rias wasn't put off by Vali's departure. Instead she looked pensive. "I'll follow him. Just in case."

"I wouldn't recommend it, but do what you want. Just don't agitate him. He still has a bit of a violent streak in him." Jasmine shook her head. "Any other questions?"

"How long are you going to stay?" Gasper asked just as Rias left the room.

She saw Vali pouring himself another glass of water, facing away from her.

"If you're thinking of asking me details about what happened, don't bother. I'm not-"

"Who is the albino woman?"

The glass in Vali's hands cracked instantly, but didn't shatter. Rias was thankful that it didn't. The noise would have drawn unwanted attention.

The kitchen was ominously quiet.

"That, is an oddly specific question." The White Dragon Emperor slowly turned around, looking at her with a careful glare.

"She's haunting his dreams." She elaborated. "Right after the incident, Asia, the nun and I managed to calm him down. He was in a bad state. Worse than anything I saw before. He slept on our laps, we fell asleep soon afterwards, and we woke up…"

"In a cave. Yeah. I know what it's like in there." He waved her off, putting the broken glass in the sink and shaking his head. "Damn it. It was too much to hope that the bitch's leftovers had been dealt with by now."

Her lips quirked. "You slept with him before."

"There's other ways to enter a psyche if you're good enough and the conditions are right. You should know that, unless the standards for Devil nobility have dropped more than rumors say." He rolled his eyes.

Her amusement was gone, but she didn't rise to the bait. "Who is she?"

He looked at her as if she was a child. "And what would you do if I told you, Gremory? No, the better question would be what could you do about it?"

"I don't understand what you're getting at."

"The Maou were on Issei's side. Azazel was on his side. Even that pansy Michael was backing him up. And yet all of those useless idiots let themselves get pushed around when it really mattered and left him to the wolves. What can you do that they couldn't? What can you do to ensure that you won't be another false promise or land in the same position he was in?"

Rias opened her mouth to answer but stopped short. Against an enemy that could outmaneuver her brother and other heavy hitters of the three factions, she was a small fry, no matter how much she wanted to think otherwise. No, more importantly…

"She's a Devil." Her eyes widened in realization. That was the only way she could see anyone being able to firmly manage the Maou. "A Noble."

"It'd be best if you stopped there. Unless you want to paint a target on your forehead the next time you come across her at one of your countless meaningless parties." Vali warned. "But you are right. If you've heard her talk you know how obsessed the bitch is. Tried to force him into her peerage after drugging him to the gills. Like Nee-san said, he's weak to sedatives if he's caught off guard."

Rias shivered. Issei was almost forced into a peerage while unconscious? That was against the law. So much so that there have been cases of younger generation Devils being kicked out of their families after getting caught. "What happened? How did he not get converted? I thought he was, well…"

"Raped? He was. On top of all sorts of other nasty things that night. He can't do anything halfway, even when it comes to getting screwed over." Vali smirked bitterly. "Idiot was so stupidly strong even back then that no combination of the bitch's pieces were enough, even while doing some messed up off the books sex ritual to increase the odds of success by upping their compatibility. So, she tried to kill him. Weaken the bond between his soul and his body to further increase her odds. He woke up at the last moment and barely managed to get away in his fucked up state. There should still be a faint scar on the left side of his chest where she stabbed him, if he hasn't managed to get rid of it by now. It's not beyond his ability."

Rias looked sick. She had heard of other young Devils taking extreme measures to obtain promising members for their peerage, but what she was hearing was just nauseating.

Judging from Vali's expression though, he wasn't going to tell her anymore details on the matter anytime soon. "So did that clear up any assumptions you have?"

She swallowed the bile coming up her throat and shook her head. "It's as clear as the white mist that woman appears as. I've heard of trauma taking various forms in one's psyche, but that one was… unusually self-aware."

"Yeah. Bitch has a habit of talking whenever she had the center stage. She's an attention whore that one." Vali nodded. "She say anything in particular?"

Rias frowned as she tried to focus. While some parts of her dream were lucid and clear, others were eerily vague. She had talked to Asia about it in private, but her recollections seemed to mirror her own. "The exact details are fuzzy, but she did seem to have a poor reaction when I used my powers."

"You don't say." It was clear he had something in mind that would explain it, but didn't bother to go any further than that.

"You could be more helpful."

"You could say something more worthwhile." He snipped back.

So whoever it was naturally didn't like the Power of Destruction, and not simply because she saw it as a threat. That was something to look into later. "The only other thing I can remember is her talking about some nun. Not Asia, but another one."

That had Vali's attention. "Oh? Anything in particular?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. It was vague, even then. Something about seeing the nun recently but not recognizing her."

"Oh you've got to be…" His face scrunched up in pure rage for a solid few seconds before calming down again, oddly enough with the same breathing technique that Issei had been known to use.

"What's wrong?" She didn't know what she had said, but it was clear that something was amiss.

"No. Nothing you have to worry about Red. This one's more, personal." Very, if his clenched fists were any indication. "In a way I should thank you. You just answered a lingering question some of us have had for a few years."

"Should I be worried?"

"Not unless you're dumb enough to remind Issei about it."

"That doesn't fill me with confidence."

"We'll handle it, ok? At the very least, we'll make sure you're out of the blast zone if we think things go south."

"I suppose I'll have to settle for that."

The room was awkwardly quiet for several long seconds. In the background, they could hear Akeno trying to ask Jasmine for an autograph.

"… So, how is he? Be honest." Vali broke the silence first.

"He's, trying." Rias grimaced. "Failing, but trying."

He laughed bitterly. "Of course he is. Idiot is completely useless when it comes to trying to do anything for himself."

"He's not meant to be alone." Rias repeated the mantra that everyone seemed to say about Issei when he was at his worst. "Why, is that? I know most people are like that in general, but that rule seems to hit him significantly harder."

"Part of his Nature." Vali shrugged. "Won't go into specifics, but being alone is like being without food for him. He can hold it off the worst of it for a while, but it eats away at him regardless."

"You know his Nature?" She blinked in surprise.

Vali smirked. "Dual Nature, if you must know. Just like Olphis, though his isn't nearly as obnoxiously overwhelming as hers'. Kinda hard to top a combo of "Infinite" and "Nothing". Each of Issei's alone isn't all too special, but together…" He trailed off, his smile fading away. "… Well, the stronger a Dragon's nature, the harder it hits if something goes wrong."

"So it did have something to do with his Nature."

"You suspected?"

"He alluded to Natures a couple of times, but none of us dared ask him about his. It's extremely personal information after all." Rias waved off the fact like it wasn't a big deal.

"Figures. Idiot always did have trouble keeping his big mouth shut. Made it easier for him to breathe fire though."

"He's actually got rusty in that department. Got depressed and everything when he had a coughing fit in front of everyone when he showed off for the first time."

"You're joking."

"It was adorable."

"Oh I'm going to hang that over his head for years." Judging from his smile, he meant it too.

"Is that how long you're staying?"

"If only. No, we're here for a week at best. Just long enough to get his ass in gear again."

"I'm sure that's more than long enough for you to regret it."

"You're talking like one of us already." Vali smirked.

"Is there anything else we should know about your stay? Issei was training us to some extent before this happened."

"And I'm guessing it's been yielding unusually effective results."

"We only just started, but yes. He's quite good at teaching despite his disposition and strange methods."

"He's full of surprises, that one. You can never really let your guard down around him. For better or for worse." He crossed his arms. "It's a shame he's absolute shit when it comes to taking care of himself."

"That's something I wanted to ask you about. Can you please give us some tips on how to work with Issei? How to help him?" She looked at him pleadingly. "We're trying our best, and Asami-san means well, but it's clear that there's much that she doesn't want to talk about, much less able to talk about. The situation's just too unstable for us to keep on walking blindly around and figuring out as we go along."

Vali gave her a piercing look before sighing. "I suppose you're talking more about his habit of turning into a human plush toy the moment he touches a tit."

"That was a good start, but I was hoping for something more along the lines of helping him recover. Or at least trust us more."

"If we knew that we wouldn't be having this conversation. As for trust, well to be frank you're already making more progress than we anticipated. I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but not many people have been allowed to see what it's like inside his psyche. Even before the mess."

"As much as I want to take credit for that, I think the credit for that belongs to Asia-chan more than me. She's a Dragon Tamer if you haven't been informed yet. Even the spirit in Issei's Sacred Gear said as much."

Vali blinked in surprise. "Oh? That guy actually talked to you?"

"It was during Issei's episode. He probably wouldn't have done so if there was any other option."

"Figures." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Another Dragon Tamer… fuck, what the actual hell is up with your luck Issei?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me."

"Beats me. He's always been a magnet for random chaos like that, willing or not. Has a tendency of obliterating his clothes in the process though."

"I've witnessed examples of that already." Memories of their stray devil hunt a few weeks ago came up in her mind. "Though I'm pretty sure that being shoved into the vagina of a drugged up Stray was a new experience even for him."

Vali looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. "You know what? As far as I'm concerned, you're already a part of the club. You tell me some stories and what he calls everyone, and I'll give you a few tips and tricks on how to deal with him that you actually can use in public."

"… He calls me Weeb."

"Oh you poor soul." A knowing bitter smile was what she got. "Pleasure to meet you Weeb. I'm Ass-Man. Now please, do go on."

In the background, if one listened carefully, one could hear a pen-cap being popped off.

o. o. o.

Six years ago:

Vali woke up on the floor with his entire body cramped up.

The first thing he checked was if he was tied up and still in his normal clothes.

"Up already? You're recovering faster."

Holding back a groan, the preteen Hakuryuutei blinked the world back into focus to see the most frustrating person he knew and his personal target where he was often found, at his irregularly large desk where he spent most of his time either watching porn or doing research.

"Damn it."

"Walk it off. You should be getting used to floor cramps by now. What with how much time you spend on it." Issei didn't spare him a second glance as he was working with some sort of device that he was pretty sure was going to go into some new variant sex toy in the future.

"Fuck you." Picking himself up slowly off the ground, Vali tried to reach for his demonic power to try and attack Issei again, like he had just before being rendered unconscious effortlessly earlier.

Unlike that time though, he couldn't feel his power. "What… what did you do to me this time tits for brains?!"

"Relax. I just caused a minor swelling in your autothaumaturgic-"

"In words I can understand!"

"He paralyzed your magic and Sacred Gear kid." Ghost supplied. "You should be good in a few hours though. Albion should be able to still talk though."

"Against my advice." Ddraig grumbled.

"The boy is one of your more intelligent hosts." Albion hummed, clearly amused.

"Oh stop acting butthurt."

"You know, this is kinda getting annoying." Issei frowned, but still not looking up.

"What nonsense are you talking about now?" Vali snarled.

"You and me, and those idiots in our Sacred Gears." Issei elaborated in a way that everyone could tell another rant was coming. "You barge in. You make an ass out of yourself. I kick your ass. Repeat. You come, I kick. Ass-man, I'm seriously going to have to start charging you for this if it keeps up. I'm running out of cardboard boxes."

"Hahahahaha! The poor UPS guy must be terrified he's working with human traffickers!" As per the norm, Ghost was of no help.

"I mean seriously, why the fuck are you still coming after me? Because idiots that we were born with can't put aside a grudge that was so long ago that I doubt that they even remember what they fought about in the first place?"

"Oi. That goes too far partner." Ddraig growled.

"He certainly has a mouth on him." Albion agreed.

"Then do explain why the hell you two started going at it in the first place. Hm?" The boy was not intimidated. "Explain why even after you were both put down, you thought it was a prideful and smart idea worthy of your names to force and goad generation after generation of humans, who might I add were apparently too brainless to think for themselves at any point in their lives, to go at one another simply because the other idiot was in them?"

"Well… I… He…" Ddraig started slowly before trailing off, clearly unsure about his answer.

"That insufferable lizard… wait no that was one of his hosts. There was that one… no, no that was Ophis. What about…"

"And you fools call me a reckless idiot." Ghost's dry tone displayed a rare moment of unamusement for him. "If you're going to do something stupid on that scale, at least have the decency to remember the reasons for it. Heavenly Dragons? Yeah. I can see that. Because anytime anyone sees you, they look up to the heavens and wonder how two muscle headed morons of such caliber can exist in the first place."

"And you guys wonder why I never bothered with that stupid rivalry in the first place." Issei grumbled. "Seriously? What's the point? I have more important things to waste my time on."

"Are you saying that Porn is more important that fighting me?!" Vali's temper was working itself up again.

The Sekiryutei sighed and put his tools down before swiveling his chair to face Vali directly. It was clear that the boy was in the middle of one of his infamous multi day work sessions if the bags under his eyes and tired look were any indication.

For a moment, Vali feared he was going to wake up in another box violated by multiple sex toys again.

"Are you saying that you don't have any original ideas or plans for yourself that didn't come from someone else?"

Vali froze.

"Fighting me is something that Albion wants. "Being the strongest" is just some hyped up aimless goal that any fool with powers can come up with so long as their adrenaline is still pumping and they don't have to worry about food and housing. Even if I ever decided to have some pointless fighting rival, I wouldn't want it to be an idiot that can't even decide what they want for themselves in life."

Issei's words speared through Vali's chest violently, doing more damage than almost anything committed before.

"I don't know who hurt you, and I don't care. But I'm getting real pissed that you'd put me on the same list as the asshole. Use as many psychos and nutjobs as stepping stones for your growth to get stronger as you want. Just don't put my name next to theirs."

At the sudden indirect mention of his Grandfather, Vali stood up and genuinely intended to strike at Issei again before catching himself midway.

As much as he hated to admit it, Issei had a point. His intent to get stronger was just his way of lashing out while desperately trying to overcome his inferiority complex against Rizevim Lucifer, the son of Lucifer himself. No matter how infuriating Issei was at times, comparing him to his monster of a Grandfather was unfair in every way, shape, and form…

Save for the fact that both of them were seemingly unsurmountable titans from where he stood.

The problem was, he genuinely couldn't see himself having a future until his Grandfather was dealt with. One way or another. That meant no plans. No excessive aspirations. No dreams. Just power. Power until he could actually have a life again.

"… What if that asshole is still out there?" He didn't know why he was saying this to Issei, but at the same time he knew that there probably wasn't anyone else that could give him an answer he might actually accept. "What if that asshole won't leave me alone until I get strong enough to make him?"

Issei didn't disappoint. "Then have a goal or dream that has being strong as a prerequisite. Like mine. Duh."

Vali clearly didn't expect his one sided rival to have an answer so damn quickly. It honestly pissed him off. "Like you? How does having a harem require you to be so strong that you can scare most Ultimate Class monsters?"

"Really? You can't figure something as obvious as that out?" Ghost snorted sarcastically as Issei's expression darkened significantly.

"It's because I'm the Sekiryutei. Because this world is full of greedy assholes that will use every trick in the book to get me or my power under their thumb."

The world began to shudder as the beast within the cave expressed its displeasure.

"Because I want to make sure that anyone that tries to think that harming those under my protection will burn. No matter who they are. No matter where they are. No matter how powerful. Devil. Angel. Fallen. Monster. Human. God. It doesn't matter. They will know without question, with absolute certainty, that while I do have my limits, they also have their own. And I vastly surpass them."

Vali didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. He was too busy being paralyzed by the titan of a monster sitting just a few feet away from him. Giving him its full attention.

"All so that in the end, when anyone has the bright idea to even touch my harem, or my children, they will shiver. They will shake their heads. And they will ALL. Say. No."

It was at that moment that Vali had understood Issei. Truly, and completely understood his rival to such an extent that he felt genuine respect for him. The entire time he had gone after his "rival", he had done so with the intent to prove his superiority. To show that he was above this weird and erratic nutcase that made little sense to anyone that came across him.

But now he made sense. Now Vali could see the Dragon known as Issei Hyoudou for what he truly was.

And Vali realized he still had a long way to go before he could consider himself his rival.

"It looks like you finally have an idea of what to do with yourself finally." Issei nodded in satisfaction before turning to his desk again. "Now unless you want to help me with this hydrodynamic tripronged adjustable vibrator, get the fuck out of my room."

… Hopefully, an impossibly long way to go.