Chapter 10-Temporary Bliss

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Temporary Bliss

"Eeep!" That was about the reaction Joshua was expecting from Jeanne when he pulled out Nagini from his bag.

"Relax, she is completely harmless." He groaned out loud when the snake gave a hiss in protest. "You could at least fake it, you know?" He directed at the serpent, who looked away from him. "Anyway, she is harmless to you, because she knows she won't have food if she scares you, nevermind bite you."

Joshua purposely ignored the look Nagini shot at him as he finished the sentence. Instead, he focused on the scared, dirty and starving teenager he had picked up. 'I knew I was making a habit of picking up strays, but this is ridiculous,' The young man thought to himself.

He still wondered if the reasons for him following Cheshire's whim were enough for whatever this might lead down to. The first of which was, of course, that Cheshire had brought the idea, and he trusted his familiar with just about anything. The second was because… well, he had taken pity on the poor girl. She looked terrible, honestly, so he had decided that he could, at the least, give the girl some food and a place to stay for a few days.

The third reason was the girl's Appraisal screen and what followed.

[Jeanne

Rank: ?]

[Quest: Help Jeanne.

Reward:

+New Perk: Holy Element]

It was the first time a Quest had appeared to him before it was completed and Joshua had absolutely no idea why it had happened this time. It was also the first time that the screen wasn't blue. Well, the storage spell screen was grey, but this was the only other instance of that happening and the first time it was bright white, almost glowing. He wasn't too sure what that meant though.

The only thing he knew, however, was that the reward sounded very tempting, and really, what was he going to lose?... Well, he could lose quite a bit, he guessed. He didn't know anything about Jeanne and, for all he knew, she could be someone that brought trouble wherever she went. The really bad kind of trouble, that is.

On the other hand, Joshua was sure that he would regret not helping her if he turned his back on the girl. It was the kind of thing that would eat at him everyday afterwards, he was sure. He just really, really hoped this decision wouldn't come back to bite him later.

'What does it say about me that Cheshire is still the most defining factor in my decision making?' Joshua wondered as he scratched Nagini's head. 'I have to wonder though,' He thought then, turning his eyes towards the blond girl in his apartment, who was still looking rather scared of his pet snake. 'Why did she come with me?'

"You hungry? It's a bit early, but I'm feeling like having dinner already," He asked, and immediately felt Nagini wrap around his arm and climb towards his shoulders.

"Hm… er… sure?" The girl replied looking very nervous and out of place. Joshua understood, really, he did, but he still couldn't help but hope that the girl would be a little less awkward about the whole thing. It would really help him feel less… well, awkward himself.

"How about this?" He continued, already moving towards the fridge to see what he had to work with. "You can go ahead and shower, I can lend you some clothes to change into… I'm guessing you have clothes in that bag?" Joshua asked, pointing at the small backpack slung over her shoulder and getting a nod. "I'm also guessing that you need to wash them all?" Joshua continued, his eyes looking over the contents of the fridge, he received an affirmative enough sound from the girl. "I'm sure they aren't much so we'll have to see about buying some more."

"Hm… that… sounds great, actually," Jeanne voiced, sounding like she was still trying to catch up with the conversation. "I can't remember the last time I had a good shower," He heard her say, although by the change in volume, he probably wasn't meant to hear that. "But… I… I don't have money to pay for clothes… or the food… or anything, really..." She admitted, her voice growing more and more weak as she went on.

"Don't worry about that," Joshua waved off as he turned back to look at her. "Cheshire decided to pick you up. So, I'm picking you up. You shouldn't worry about paying for anything at your age… how old are you, by the way?"

"I'm sixteen," The girl protested weakly, but still with enough energy to pout at him, probably for treating her like a child.

"Yeah, the most you should worry about is going to school," Joshua said, rolling his eyes. "How did you end up in the streets?" He asked then. Others could call him shallow, but you just didn't see people as pretty as her on the streets like… ever. So, something must have happened, he was sure.

"I… ran away from home," Jeanne admitted, holding her forearm and looking down and away.

"And you did that… why, if you don't mind me asking?" Joshua added. He felt a little entitled to know, since he was the one that was offering her a roof and food for basically nothing at all, maybe even with cons. However, he also didn't want to pressure her into spilling all her secrets, that would just make him feel bad.

"They… they don't understand," She muttered and just before he continued questioning, she started speaking again. "All my life… I've heard these… voices, in my head," She told him growing more passionate as she went on. "They tell me what to do, and they've always been right! But… nobody understands. My parents thought I was crazy. My classmates would always make fun of me. I… I just wanted to get away. So, when the voices told me to leave..." She trailed off, suddenly losing all her spirit.

"You left," Joshua finished for her softly and she nodded, looking down. Before, he might have thought that someone hearing voices was just some kind of crazy. No necessarily the bad type of crazy, but still.

Now though. Now he knew about magic and mythologies and supernatural stuff. Or, at least, he knew those were real or could be real. So, voices in someone's head weren't so weird. Especially since she said that they were always right. It could be a coincidence, or it could be the real deal. And with that question mark on her screen and the Quest thing? He would bet it was the latter.

'Did whatever those voices were have something to do with the strange white screen?' He wondered then, not sure if he should be worried about that possibility. If his magic could interact with the System, was something else also able to do it?

"I'm guessing..." Joshua started slowly. "That these voices told you something about me?"

"Yes, they said… wait," She stopped then, turning to him with wide eyes. "You believe me?" She asked then, with a somewhat ironic amount of disbelief in her tone.

"Well, I have regular conversations with what people would call animals. Hell, I decided to bring you here on Cheshire's whim," Joshua nodded towards both Nagini and the aforementioned cat, the latter of which chose that moment to rub her head against his leg and purr. "And I'm pretty sure that they can understand me. Also..." With a slight smile, he pulled a card from his pocket and activated the Storage Spell from it to pull out a bottle of water. "I'm kind of a magician."

"Magic is real..." She breathed out, looking at the object with wide eyes. Joshua was actually surprised that she believed that quickly, even with her voices thing. Joshua was pretty sure that he would have been skeptical… but maybe she was just desperate to believe that she wasn't crazy. Maybe the doubt had been there for her too.

"It is," Joshua nodded. "So,... did the voices tell you something about me?" He asked again, patiently.

"They said… They called you an anomaly..." Jeanne mumbled and the young man felt his blood run cold. 'So… I shouldn't be here, huh?' He thought wryly. 'No surprise there… I should be dead.' "And they also said something about… fate… changing, I think," She added and he grew worried. 'So, me being here changed things, huh? Still no idea where here is though.'

"Well, if that's everything-"

"Yeah," She said quickly and he blinked and looked at her. The girl then looked down, wringing her hands together with her face more and more red with every passing second.

"Did the voices say anything else?" He asked curiously, because there was no way that reaction was for no reason.

"They also said… they said..." She hesitated for a moment, looking very nervous. "They said you would help… that's all."

"If that's all..." He replied, not fully believing her. But then again, he didn't have reason to doubt her since Cheshire was still acting like everything was alright. "About that shower?" He asked again.

"Oh! Um… yes… that sounds good," She nodded, a small smile forming on her face. "About those clothes..."

"Oh, right, come and take a pick," He led her to his bedroom where he showed her some clothes that shouldn't look too big on her. "Should be enough while we get your clothes cleaned up," He shrugged.

"You'll really… pay for my clothes too?" She asked in a whisper.

"Sure, but it'll have to be cheap stuff," He warned, spreading his arms to signal the not-so-pretty apartment. "I'm not exactly rich..." Then he paused and looked at the still empty room. "Although, I guess we'll have to see about setting up that room as yours. It's empty now, but I think I can get some stuff."

'I can get a bed from the Hunter's house,' Joshua decided easily. 'Probably some other stuff too… shame, I wanted to set up that one as a training room or something… well, can't be helped, at least for now,' He shrugged again.

"You… would do that for me?" He rolled his eyes at the question. Jeanne's doubts were getting old really quick.

"Jeanne," Joshua said, his tone showing a bit of his annoyance, which the girl obviously noticed of her shoulders tensing was any indication. "Relax. Cheshire would have my hide if I didn't take care of you," The cat meowed, making the teenager jump. Evidently, she hadn't noticed that the feline had followed them into the room. "And I would feel pretty bad too, if I kicked you out or something of the sort. So, yeah, we are together in whatever this is now. Although… I wouldn't say no if you wanted to help around the house," He added with a wry smile.

If he had to pay for another person too, he would like to at least get some help.

"I can cook!" She volunteered quickly. "And clean too..." She added, although she seemed to be quickly deflating. 'God, this girl really has issues,' Joshua thought.

"That would be appreciated," Joshua nodded. "I liked that spirit too," He pointed out, drawing a smile from Jeanne. 'Good,' He internally patted himself on the back. "Well, I'll start with dinner while you do that."

Once he was in the kitchen, Joshua let out a long, tired sigh.

"God, this is weird," He whispered as he took a deep breath in. "Why was all these necessary, Cheshire?" He asked his familiar, even though he knew that no direct answer would be given. With a sigh, Joshua decided to, once again and was becoming custom now, roll with it.

[}-o-{]

"So… um, Mister Davis?" Jeanne hesitantly called, making the young man cringe. "Did I do something wrong?" The girl asked nervously, clearly picking up on his reaction, not that it had been subtle at all.

"Don't call me that, please. You called me Joshua yesterday," He pointed out, still grimacing. 'Mister Davis was my father,' He thought, blinking a few times to push the tears away. "Just Joshua is fine… actually, I insist, call me just that," He added, mainly because he really didn't want to be reminded of his dead parents every time the girl felt like talking to him.

"I… Ok… I was just thinking," The girl started, unsure but clearly wanting to change subjects as quickly as possible. "Well… if I'm gonna be living with you… your family and friends could ask questions," She pointed out and he cringed again.

The poor girl looked like she had a heart attack when he looked back at her.

"Just," Joshua said with an ugly grimace. "I'd advise against mentioning my family much," He suggested as kindly and patiently as he could. Jeanne didn't, after all, know what had happened to his family. "My parents died in a car crash not so long ago..."

"I'm so sorry!" The girl exclaimed, drawing some curious gazes from people passing by. It was good that they had waited for her to have her own clothes to wear instead of his before going shopping. Otherwise, Joshua didn't want to think what people would have thought.

"Jeanne," He replied softly. "You couldn't have known. Don't worry about it," He reassured, looking ahead instead of at the girl. "I also don't have many friends besides Cheshire, Nagini and Morag. So I don't think you have to worry about that."

"Morag...?" She asked confused and the young man was reminded of the fact that she still hadn't had the… pleasure of meeting his arachnid pet. "Anyway," Jeanne shook her head and Joshua's lip twitched at the picture in his mind of the girl meeting the spider. "I guess it doesn't matter then," She mumbled.

"What is it that you wanted to tell me?" Joshua prodded, feeling a bit bad about basically denying her idea before she could even voice it. Not that it was his fault but still… 'Good to see that I'm still a mess when talking to someone,' He thought sarcastically.

"Well… I just thought… we should think of a way to explain why I'm living with you..." She continued almost whispering, poking her fingers together in a way that Joshua thought people only did in anime and such shows. "But… if it won't be a problem..."

"Well, I guess someone might make a problem out of it if we leave it unexplained," Joshua nodded, suddenly thoughtful of the scenario that she presented. "My family won't be a problem," He scratched from the beginning, feeling his throat close up a bit. "And I don't have friends right now, so that won't either. But neighbors are a thing, so we should still have a cover story of sorts..."

"Hm," Jeanne hummed with a bright smile that almost brought another out of Joshua. As if a switch had been flipped, the nervous girl was replaced with a happy teenager almost skipping along. "Well, maybe I could say I am your girlfriend-"

"Yeah, no," He denied immediately, unimpressed. She was pretty, yes, but she was also a minor, so that was a big, fat 'NO'.

"You don't have to make it sound like that," She pouted, but not looking really annoyed. 'So, she was joking?' Joshua wondered. "Maybe a… a cousin?" She paused to look at him, apparently wary of mentioning family of any kind around him after her blunder from before. He smiled calmly at her.

"It was only my parents, Jeanne," Joshua explained, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "I don't get along with the rest of my relatives too much, so I don't mind you using that one."

"That's good," She nodded, expression brightening in a second. The young man couldn't help but think that this new attitude suited her much better than her previous nervous and afraid disposition. "I guess we can go with that then… Should I go by Jeanne Davis then?" She asked and, once more, her eyes darted to him.

This time, Joshua did stop for a second. His first thought was to reject that idea. It felt… wrong, to let someone else use his family name. He was a moment away from telling Jeanne to just continue using her last name. After all, what were the chances of someone actually figuring out they weren't related because of that? However, there was a slight problem with that.

'She never did tell me her last name, did she?' Joshua realized, eyeing her companion out of the corner of his eyes. From what he got, she seemed to be growing more and more nervous, the happy girl pulling into her shell once more. 'She doesn't want to use her last name?' He wondered. And, after what she had told him, he could kind of understand. 'How badly did her parents really treat her if she is like this?' Despite asking himself that, Joshua didn't think he really wanted to know the answer.

"Sure. I guess we can go with that," He allowed despite his reservations.

"Do you think people would think we are siblings?" Jeanne asked, apparently not picking up on Joshua's reticence. "I mean," She did notice, a bit late perhaps, that it might have been a touchy subject, what with his parents dead. He could forgive that, since she was probably still processing that information. "I don't think so," She started correcting herself quickly in a way that was almost comical for Joshua. "We are nothing alike after all."

"Well, we both have fair skin and blue eyes," He pointed out, letting her know that he had no problem with that particular line of thought. "We are not very similar personality wise though, and we have different hair color, but that isn't so rare, I guess."

"Sorry about that," She still said when he was finished. Evidently, he hadn't hidden his emotions nearly as well as he thought he had. Still, Joshua waved it off, even if he was feeling his chest a little too tight for his heart after so many mentions of his dead family. Despite that, it didn't feel completely awful to talk about it, he found.

"Don't worry," Joshua reassured again. "I… don't think I ever mentioned being an only child to anyone," He mused, mostly to himself. His mind, however, was moving to different but somewhat related matters.

'I'm fairly sure that I only told Peter that my parents died,' He thought idly. 'I wonder if it would be weird for me to suddenly have a sister around… could we say something about her being with relatives when the accident happened?...' He stopped, not only thinking but also walking as he suddenly realized what he was doing. 'Why… Why am I giving this so much thought?' Joshua questioned.

Then, he looked to the side to see a worried Jeanne looking at him but not quite gathering the courage to speak.

"How about we stop at a cafe or something?" He suggested. Even though he didn't quite manage to keep some of his emotions out of his voice, the girl didn't point it out and instead simply nodded. They started walking again, this time with the blonde looking around for a place that looked good enough and the dark haired man trying to make sense out of his own mind.

'The relatives' story would work just fine. It might even be an easier lie to keep,' He told himself. However, a little voice in the back of his mind had a different idea. 'Mum and dad always wanted another child, didn't they? They wanted to have a girl too...' It whispered in his ear and he almost grimaced.

It wasn't that they hadn't wanted a boy, but rather that they had wanted a girl too. For whatever reason, however, they had never quite managed to have one, or even another boy. Joshua himself would have admitted that he would have been happy with a brother or a sister. That might have helped him be more social. Although… it could also have made things worse.

He would never know now.

'Or...' His eyes moved to Jeanne on his side, who couldn't help but take not-so-subtle glances at him. He shook his head. 'She is a lost girl that needs help. Stop thinking about yourself,' Joshua chastised himself, wishing Cheshire was around to smack some sense into him.

"I guess being siblings could work too, by the way," He couldn't stop himself from saying. He managed, at least, to say it without too much enthusiasm, despite the odd eagerness for her to choose that option over simple cousins. He was being selfish and he knew it.

"You think so?" Jeanne asked, looking both happy and afraid. A weird mix , in Joshua's opinion. "I mean, I shouldn't have said that. What with your parents..." She trailed off, giving an awkward wave of her hand in the end. The poor girl didn't seem to find a good enough way to end that sentence.

"Mum and dad always did say that they wanted to have a daughter too," He admitted, looking anywhere but at the girl. "But I guess it would be more difficult to sell that lie, don't you think?" He pointed out, managing a grin to hide his inner turmoil.

"Yeah… I guess..." Jeanne nodded, looking strangely disappointed.

[}-o-{]

[Unknown]

The man was… strange. That much the deity could tell.

He was plain. Unassuming. Normal. Which were all terms that applied to very few people in the supernatural world. However, the deity couldn't help but remember how he had found himself drawn to one Joshua Davis.

There had been so much of his domains' energy that night. Especially Salvation. There had been so much Salvation energy there, that he had wondered why he hadn't found the man sooner. However, that wasn't all. There had been Hunt there too. Hunt and Wild Animals.

The deity guessed that was what finally got his attention. So many different energies of his domains together, and in so much quantity. He just had to take a look. And he had quite liked what he found.

A man, that despite what he had lived through, hadn't denied the animals help. Even with the particularly unfavourable circumstances regarding the spider. Truly, a Savior. Who else could get the deity's attention if not a Savior?

Even without that, the man was wrapped in so much energy of Salvation that the deity had to be at least curious. So, he had decided to give young Joshua a trinket. A small thing to help him along and to ensure that the deity would always be able to find him. It did require a little tweaking, to ensure that the Davis didn't just leave the thing inside a Storage Spell though. Otherwise, it had been fun to see a young man bumble his way through a world that he knew painfully little about.

And now, the deity was proven right once more. The young man had decided to Save someone else. Granted, it all had come down to that rather likeable familiar of his, again. But in the end, it was still Davis' choice to take the girl in.

'A Savior indeed,' The deity thought, pleased. 'Continue to prove worthy of my attention, young Joshua, and you just might get a reward.'

Now, that was an interesting idea. A reward. What other little trinket could the deity give the young man. Something related to saving, since he was still so wrapped around that Salvation energy? Maybe something related to the Hunt? To guide him further down the path of the deity's domains? Or maybe something related to the animals the young man was so fond of?

'Something worth considering,' The deity thought, entertained by the whole thing. 'In the end though, it all comes down to the same thing, Joshua Davis. Are you worthy?'

[} Chapter End {]