Chapter 9

It was then that Shuri noticed the wounds and bruises on Igor's body. She particularly took notice of his chest having slightly caved in and a rib on his right side visibly stretching his skin. 

Without a word, she turned him to his left side before standing up straight.

"Dear~"

Baraquiel's face paled. The sound of ropes and whips filled in his mind.

Gulp

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|DxD|

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1995/08/06-1995, August 9th (Wed), Kuoh Town, Japan 

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"I love you~ You love me~ We're a happy family~

I love you~ You love me~ We're a happy family~

I love you~ You…" *

In the room where Igor was holed in, Akeno was sitting on a chair next to Igor's bed. She was happily singing a nursery rhyme while she seemed to scribble something on a book with her crayons and coloured pencils. With the curtains to the room drawn, the evening sun shined brightly on her happy face.

The cause for her happiness was being allowed to be absent from kindergarden today. All she had to say was that she was going to take care of Igor as an excuse and her mother allowed her to stay home. Now, she could happily draw pictures of her family while her classmates were stuck in school.

Nothing could get better than this and absolutely nothing could ruin it…until Igor woke up on the wrong side of the bed and chose violence to start the day.

Waking up with a groan, the blonde turned his head to take a good look at his source of annoyance.

"Shut up. Your singing stinks worse than your father's boots."

Akeno looked up from her drawing at Igor. Her angry violet eyes met his bored cerulean gaze.

"W-well YOU stink worse than your father's boots!"

Igor looked at the furious Akeno with a deadpan gaze.

"My father is dead." 

"W-wha…"

Akeno lost all her momentum with that statement. She was about to apologise when Igor's words cranked her rage up to eleven.

"He died after hearing you sing."

That did it. She got up down from her chair and clenched her little fists. That positioned her right in front of him.

"W-WELL…Well…well…WELL YOU STINK!"

She struggled for a bit to figure out how to continue. She seemed to be dancing on the spot before she decided to just show her tongue.

"Bleh! Hmph!"

Giving a wry smile at her actions, Igor was about to offer a retort when his eyes glimpsed upon her drawing that had fallen to the floor.

He took notice that there were three people holding hands in the picture.

"Huh? Is this you and your parents?"

Akeno looked at the picture and picked it up.

"Y-yeah…"

Wondering why she was suddenly shy, his musings were interrupted when Shuri walked into the room.

"Ara? Looks like you've woken up?"

Igor gave a sigh, flopping his head onto the pillow in the process.

"Hard to stay asleep when she's singing."

"Hey!"

Shuri giggled before she walked over to Igor. She knelt down and held his hand in hers.

"Now then. How are you feeling?"

Whether it was because his age had regressed to 4, or whether it's because his mind mainly concerned itself with training, but Igor felt nothing when a woman as beautiful as Shuri initiated close contact with him.*

"Pretty energetic actually. I feel like I could go ten rounds with your father again."

Shuri, in the beginning, was somewhat surprised. Usually, any male she treated would become flustered when she got close to them. With her being the miko and an exorcist of the shrine in Kuoh, she's met a lot of people and enough males to know she's quite the catch.

But while pondering those thoughts, they came to a screeching halt when she suddenly realised the last part of Igor's sentence.

'...your father again.'

Cough cough cough cough

She somehow choked on her saliva, the absurdity of the situation getting to her. Immediately, Akeno ran over to Shuri while crying out.

"Momma! Momma are you okay?!"

It was now Igor's turn to do a spit-take.

"M-mother?! SHE'S YOUR MOTHER?!"

Akeno looked at Igor with a pout.

"Yeah! So what?!"

She thought that Igor's outrage was due to her mixed heritage. Mixed-breeds were not well received in the supernatural world. 

But that topic was far from his thoughts at the moment.

[H-how?!]

Picturing Baraquiel's old rusty face, Igor could not understand how he managed to snag such a pretty young woman like Shuri. 

His initial assumption was that Shuri and Akeno were sisters or something. 

[I mean, she looks 21 at best and that old bastard is over twice her age.]

It was then that he realised something.

[Wait…that old man could be old enough to be her ancestor!]

The revelation blew him out of his mind.

"FUCK!"

"Ara-"

"YOUR HUSBAND'S A PEDOPHILE!"

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|DxD|

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Far up in the skies, Baraquiel was hovering just slightly below the clouds with all ten wings unfurled. Keeping his eyes and senses locked onto his home, he formed a magic circle on his ear.

Without being able to get a word in, an enthused voice of another man hollers in his hear.

"Baraquiel! My man! How's it going? It hasn't even been a week since you called lil' ol' me. You want some more tips to please your Shuri dearest~? Because I have to tell you-"

Baraquiel interrupted the conversation with one word.

"Aryan."

Silence…

"...say that again."

Baraquiel replies with a serious tone of voice, his eyes focusing on his house and the presence of Igor.

"Azazel. I found an Aryan."

"..."

Baraquiel soon heard the sounds of papers falling and screams of: "GET BACK HERE AZAZEL!", before a magic circle appeared next to him and showed Azazel in all his glory.

Azazel was in a black suit that looked brand new. The man looked to be in his late thirties and amongst his head of black, a yellow tuft spanned the range of his forehead. Sporting a goatee, the man's usually laid-back visage was replaced by a deadly serious one.

He easily sensed the presence of a human with abnormally powerful vitality in Baraquiel's home.

"I'm listening."

Just like that, both entered business mode. Having lived for several millennia, both brothers have developed a tacit understanding of how to operate.

"I found him in the woods with my daughter. I first assumed he was a hunter that somehow managed to sense and capture her. So naturally, I punched him away. I assumed he would be knocked unconscious, but I miscalculated. To my surprise, he came flying back…with his body covered in-"

"Ki…"

Baraquiel snorted to himself.

"I was so caught by surprise that I barely managed to block his attack and get Akeno out of the way."

Azazel chuckled. Business mode ended.

"He made you look like your bratty self huh?"

"Hmph. That was thousands of years ago, Azazel."

Azazel turned his head towards Baraquiel with a coy grin.

"Doesn't matter. The boy made you wear out the soles of your boots."

"..."

Baraquiel wanted to argue. But with a quick glance down, he noticed the heels of his boots were indeed, slightly worn out.

"Tch. Regardless, the boy possesses enough ki to cause, THAT."

Baraquiel pointed the 200-metre long trench caused by the explosion of the [Galick Gun].

"Did I mention that he's 4-years-old?"

Azazel nearly did a spit-take at Baraquiel's statement.

"F-FOUR?!"

He practically glared at Baraquiel with a gaze that demanded answers.

"How is he FOUR?!"

Baraquiel didn't remove his gaze from his home as he replied.

"Although he appears as an adolescent, I could sense his vitality. I didn't believe it myself in the beginning. So I also grabbed his arm and verified his bone age. Despite all odds, that boy is indeed, four-years of age."

Azazel rubbed his head tiredly.

"Sheesh! Talk about overkill. What were we doing when we were four again? I recall you always liked to brood and stuff."

"And you were a pervert."

"Heyyy! I mean, have you SEEN our dear sisters?"

Baraquiel couldn't help but want to sigh at Azazel's abrupt change in mood. It was a testament to the governor's lack of ability to take things seriously for long enough.

But eventually, Azazel composes himself before gaze his turns serious.

"I know you didn't call just to tell me the boy's Aryan. You have a plan of action don't you?"

At Azazel's questioning, Baraquiel seems to mull it over a bit before nodding.

"Yes. I plan to take this boy as my student."

Azazel was quiet. Baraquiel's decision surprised him since the man had not taken a disciple for millennia.

Not since…

"Yered?"

Baraquiel replied with a nod.

"Yered. The boy reminds me of him."

Baraquiel reminisced of the times he spent with Yered, a blood descendant of Adam himself.

"The boy looks just like him."

Uncharacteristically, he chuckled.

"Even their way of speaking is the same. Just like Yered, this boy also has quite the sharp tongue on him."

Azazel smiled after seeing the reminiscent gaze and smile of his brother.

"Ha! Now I really have to see what this boy is truly like if you compare him to that brat, Yered."

A grinning Azazel was about to fly down when Baraquiel held him back by the shoulder.

"Wait. I still need to see what will happen first."

Azazel naturally sensed both Akeno and Shuri along with Igor. He also knew that should Igor try anything, both would be able to get there with in an instant and prevent any incidents.

But still…

"That is out of character for you. Normally, you'd be hiding in the bushes, or the closet, or under the sofa-"

"I get it. There is no need to elaborate."

"Oh…"

There was silence for a while before Azazel continued.

"So…why are you not under the sofa-"

"I said I get it, Azazel."

That elicited a chuckle from Azazel, the Leader of Grigori taking delight in his brother's groans of annoyance.

But no sooner did that chuckle appear that he turned serious.

"So, are you telling me you trust this kid to not murder your entire family?"

Recalling Akeno's description of him, Baraquiel released a resigned sigh.

"If what my daughter said is correct…"

His mind briefly flashed to the conversation he had with Akeno, of how Igor still treated her normally despite her heritage.

"...then yes. I'll trust the brat."

.

AN

1. "...I love you~ You love me~ We're a happy family~

I love you~ You…" *

Explanation: Rather than research a Japanese nursery rhyme that over 80% of us won't understand, it is simpler to use one most of us can relate to.

2. Whether it was because his age had regressed to 4, or whether it's because his mind mainly concerned itself with training, but Igor felt nothing when a woman as beautiful as Shuri initiated close contact with him.*

Explanation: Although he is indeed four, he looks eleven. The combination of intense training, gravity, and rapid healing forced his body to grow to better handle the harsh training regiment he puts himself in. Some boys experience the start of puberty in the age of eleven, but we can safely assume Igor hasn't produced the necessary hormones. Although he was fourteen in his previous life, any shyness he might have had against women was wiped out after decades of training.

3. Work led to me skipping out on three days of uploading. Currently, it is Sunday in my region. I will not be uploading on Tuesday as well since I will be working all day on that day.