12 I Got a Yuki-Onna

After Venelana put an end to Rias' jealousy fueled tirade, Rias finally got around to reporting the outcome of the negotiations with the Himejima Clan.

As a result, the Himejima Clan would cease all pursuits of Akeno, on the condition that Akeno would have to stay near the heir of the Gremory House a.k.a. Rias at all times. Also, Akeno was not allowed to enter Himejima territory.

Shortly after she woke up, the situation was explained to Akeno. Happy that her life was no longer constantly in danger, she agreed to repay Rias by joining her peerage. Only after she tried joining James; peerage first. As James social class was too low to have his own peerage, Akeno eventually gave up on that idea... for now.

Two days later, Akeno began the same education and training James, Rias, and Sona went through. Sona also decided to continue her education, this time focusing on territory management. It is no secret that Sona is next in line as the head of the Sitri House. Rias, on the other hand, stopped her education and training. Pursuing her interests and spending as much time as she could bonding with Akeno instead. James also stopped attending academic classes. Instead, he decided to dedicate himself fully to his training.

With his desire to be Rias and Sona's equal burning brighter than ever because of Rias' recent attitude, James has gone out to travel the human world with his father's [Knight], Auron. Auron was a member of one of the church's elite monster hunting units when he was still human. A devout and stalwart believer in God's teachings, he was unfortunate enough to find out a truth that he was not meant to know. And for knowing too much, he was branded a heretic and sentence to execution.

During the days leading to his execution, Cassiel, who was on a mission to assassinate the angel relaying orders to Auron's unit, managed to sneak into the prison and have a conversation with Auron. The result? Auron agreed to be reincarnated as a devil after his execution, claiming "I've spent my entire life in service to the Lord, and so shall it end."

Cassiel agreed with Auron's decision, mainly because breaking him out of prison would have been more trouble than it was worth. So, he spent the remaining time before the execution casing his target and the surrounding terrain. Once the execution was complete, Cassiel stole Auron's corpse before it could be cremated and casually beheaded the target angel on his way out of the base. He then used a [Knight Piece] to reincarnate him.

Three hundred years have passed since then, And Auron's strength has grown. As there is no official ranking, Auron is unofficially considered one of the top ten strongest [Knights]. His skill with the sword, the odachi in particular, is the reason he was selected to travel with James. At this point, Cassiel's melee ability is not enough to compete with James anymore.

James and Auron started their journey in Canada. The goals, to train in adverse terrain and find strays for combat. And, although he never mentioned it to anyone, James took this trip so he could find potential peerage members. Although he was not jealous that Rias was able to get Akeno, he just does not want to fall too far behind. Starting in the city of Toronto, James and Auron zig zagged their way to the west.

In three months of travel, James accustomed himself to fighting in the extreme cold and completed many devil jobs by eliminating stray devils and fulfilling the wishes of humans.

Human World, Alaskan/Canadian Border.

In a valley near the border between Alaska and Canada, a young girl, who appears to be nine or ten years old with light purple shoulder length hair, bangs swept to the left side of her forehead, and light blue irises and dark purple pupils wearing a white yukata made of light material, was running away from a group of humans, all dressed in white anti-cold gear, with inverted crosses stitched on each shoulder and their chest.

Standing at the top of the valley, James and Auron are watching the chase.

"Mr. Auron, do you know who those people are?" James asked as the people in white began closing the distance to the fleeing young girl.

"Hmmm. The ones in white are either from the church or stray exorcists." Auron replied calmly.

"Stray exorcists?" James asked in confusion.

"Former church exorcists who have been excommunicated for whatever reason." Auron replied.

"And who do you think that girl is?" James asked, then continued. "She feels like a youkai, but I can't figure out why she's so far away from Japan."

"Your senses are pretty good, Kid." Auron said with a chuckle. "If I'm not mistaken, she's a yuki-onna."

"A yuki-onna, huh? I've never seen one before." James said while watching the girl with curiosity.

During their conversation, the humans in anti-cold gear have caught up to and surrounded the yuki-onna. As the humans tighten the encirclement, the yuki-onna began to resist fiercely. Her hair lengthens and ice covered her hands, creating a pair of ice claws.

"Yup, she's definitely a yuki-onna." Auron said nonchalantly.

"Thank you for your incredible powers of deduction, Sir Auron." James said with sarcasm.

Putting down several of her attackers, the yuki-onna attempted to escape. However, before she could get too far, a silhouette descended in front of her. Once the figure came to a stop, a tall woman with three pairs of black feathered wings, blond hair and red eyes was revealed.

"Well, now we have to move in on principle." Auron said, before continuing. "With a fallen angel present we now know those are stray exorcists."

"Okay, so, what's the plan?" Asked James as he placed his right hand on Ochiru Sakura's hilt.

"You flash step into the group of stray exorcists and take them out with Senbonzakura." Auron replied.

"And while I'm doing that, you'll take on the crow, right?" Asked James as he got more excited about the upcoming battle.

"Nah." Auron refuted. "You'll be taking on the crow, too. So, you better take out the strays fast."

"What will you be doing?" Asked James with irritation.

"Watching and enjoying the show." Auron replied nonchalantly.

James glared at Auron in annoyance.

"If you plan on saving the yuki-onna, you should get moving, Kid." Auron said, unbothered by James' stare.

"I really hate you, Old Man." James said as he vanished from the spot.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura!"

James' trigger word could be heard as he appeared in the middle of the group of stray exorcists. Shortly after, James' drawn Ochiru Sakura broke down and swarms the stray exorcists. Depending on how many petals flashed through the strays, they were either left as mangled corpses or piles of mush.

*Blurgh*

Seeing the level of gore, the yuki-onna could not handle it. Vomiting the contents of her stomach at the sight of humans turned into Sloppy Joes.

"Oh, where did this little bat come from?" The fallen angel asked.

"Oh, you know." James responded flippantly. "Screwing up fallen angel plans is a matter of principle."

"Basically, you came here to make a bad joke before getting yourself killed?" The fallen angel asked, clearly unamused by James' answer.

"Ha, a little mutated crow thinks she can kill me?" James asked condescendingly.

"You damn brat, I'm going to rip you apart." The fallen angel said with growing anger.

As the fallen angel began creating a light spear, James had his Ochiru Sakura reconstructed by the cherry blossom petals floating around the battlefield. Once his katana was complete, James vanished from his spot with a flash step. At the same time, the fallen angel launched the light spear at James' former location. Once the light spear contacted the ground, James appeared behind the fallen angel, with her right arm and the three wings on her right side flying into the air.

"What? How?" The fallen angel questioned in terror.

"What? I cut off your arm and wings on your right side. How? By swinging my sword." James answered with nonchalance while dropping into an iaido stance. "And now, it's time to end this."

Vanishing from his spot once more, James once again appeared behind the fallen angel, this time with her head shooting up into the air and a geyser of blood shooting from her neck. With a flourish, James removed the blood from the blade and sheathed Ochiru Sakura in one motion. Then he turned to see Auron standing next to the yuki-onna, who was still in shock.

Trying not to laugh at the yuki-onna's expression of shock with her eyes and mouth wide open, James took a deep breath then began speaking.

"Hi, are you okay?" James asked. "Those injuries don't look too bad, but you can never be too sure."

"Uh... yeah... I mean yes... I'm okay." The yuki-onna replied.

"That's good." James said, patting his chest in relief. "Well, allow me to introduce myself, I'm James Alaverus. And this grumpy old man who thinks it's cool to wear shades at night is Auron.

Ignoring James' jab, Auron simply answered. "Pleasure."

Relaxing slightly after the polite greeting, the yuki-onna also introduced herself.

"It's... Nice to... Meet you... My name is... Shirayuki Mizore." She bowed her head as she introduced herself, then continued. "That you... for saving... me."

"I don't mean to pry, but why was that fallen angel and those strays chasing you?" James asked with concern.

Gritting her teeth, Mizore responded with hatred in her voice. "I... ran away... They used me... and everyone else... In my village... as experimental... Subjects."

"Those damned crows!" James shouted, losing control of his energy, unintentionally putting pressure on his surroundings.

Mizore felt a weight on her chest from the pressure James was emitting, finding herself short of breath. Noticing Mizore's state, Auron sternly reprimanded James.

"Knock it off, Kid! Are you trying to kill the girl yourself."

Hearing Auron's exclamation, James snapped out of his sudden rage. When he looked at Mizore, she was breathing heavily, and her face was quite pale.

"I'm sorry." James lowered his head as he apologized. "I don't know what came over me. I've never experienced it before, but just hearing about someone using other people as test subjects... I'm really sorry."

"It's okay... I'm fine." Mizore responded.

"Well... Uhm... What are you going to do now?" James asked and continued. "Do you have anywhere to go?"

In response, Mizore only shook her head.

"I'd like to say I could give you a place to stay," James began. Shaking his head, he continued, "but you have no reason to trust me that much."

Mizore actually wanted to ask if she could follow him, though not just because she had nowhere else to go. She felt his power, saw his fighting ability, and thought, 'He might be able to get revenge for me.'

With that thought planted firmly in her head, Mizore replied, "I... would not... mind."

"Say what!?" James asked in confusion.

'Why would she agree to follow two people she never met? Especially when one looks like me might be one of those "weird uncles" in...'

*Smack!*

*Boom!*

Before James could finish his thought, Auron appeared next to him, and smacked him so hard that he face planted into the ground beneath the seven inches of snow that covered it.

"Hey brat, I feel like you were thinking something rude about me." Auron said with an unhappy tone.

"Don't give me one of those women's intuition lines you see in all sorts of comedy novels, damn it!" Shouted James as he pulled himself out of the snow.

Seeing James current state, for the first time since her village was destroyed, Mizore smiled.

Also, due to Auron breaking his train of thought, James started thinking calmly.

'She probably agreed to come with us because she wants me to get revenge for her.' James thought to himself as he gazed at Mizore. 'Well, if I want her to be a useful member of my peerage, that won't do.'

"Are you serious about coming with me?" James asked the young yuki-onna.

Mizore nodded.

"And I'm guessing you want me to get revenge for you, right?" James asked another question.

Surprised James was able to see through her motives, Mizore widened her eyes and began to shake her head. Then she stopped and began to think.

'If he could see through my motives so easily, He'll probably be able to tell if I lie, too. I should just be honest.'

Eventually, Mizore nodded and responded to James' question.

"Yes."

Nodding his head in approval, James began to speak again.

"Well, I have no plans to get revenge for you." James said in a serious tone.

Hearing this, Mizore hung her head in disappointment.

"But..."

With that but, Mizore quickly raised her head again.

"If you follow me and join my peerage, I promise to make you strong enough to take revenge yourself." He said with conviction in his tone.

James then explained the [Evil Piece] system and what a peerage is to Mizore.

Taking a few minutes to digest the new information and its possible consequences, Mizore eventually nodded her head and said.

"I... agree."

James nodded his head in approval once again. But internally, he was jumping for joy with his hands raised in the air.

'Hell yeah, I got a yuki-onna!'