High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Issei

I woke up slowly.

Not because I wanted to.

Because my brain was still heavy from everything that had happened last night.

For a few seconds, I just lay there under the blanket, half-awake, staring into the dim early light and listening to the quiet of the room.

The Hyoudou house usually never stayed quiet for long anymore.

Not with Buchou and Asia already living here, and definitely not now that Akeno-san, Xenovia, Yuuto-san, Koneko-chan, and Ku… Yuki-san had moved in too.

I still wasn't completely used to calling her that

And thinking about her was the main thing making my head feel heavy.

Last night had started with a move-in.

Luggage, chaos, way too many beautiful girls in my house, and me almost dying on the front step from shock.

That part should have been enough to fill my dreams all by itself.

Instead, what kept circling around in my head was the discussion in the living room later last night.

The way Buchou’s voice had changed when she said the peerage needed to talk.

The way Yuki-san had gone still before she said a word.

The way everything after that had felt like one of those moments where you suddenly realize the person standing in front of you has been carrying a whole other life inside them and you only knew pieces.

I stared up at the ceiling.

I could still remember how it had felt when Buchou told Akeno-san and me what had happened against Kokabiel.

How Yuki-san had almost convinced her to release multiple seals.

How Buchou had said she had explained it like it was the obvious answer.

Not because she wanted to die.

Not because she was trying to take advantage of the situation. 

Because she had really thought it through.

Because she had looked at all of us and decided everyone else had reasons they couldn’t be the one left behind.

And because she had decided she was the one we might actually be able to leave.

That part still made something twist inside me.

I shifted in bed and threw an arm over my eyes.

Dammit.

Even now, thinking about it, I could feel the same anger crawling back up.

At Kokabiel.

At myself for being weak.

At that whole situation.

At the idea of Yuki-san standing there and treating herself like some final card to throw on the table because despite what would happen to her, it might work.

At Buchou for almost agreeing.

At not even knowing about it until now.

Mostly, though, I was angry at the life Yuki-san had lived to make that thought reasonable to her.

She had looked at everyone there and sorted us like that.

Me? Couldn’t be left.

Buchou? Couldn’t be left.

Akeno-san? Couldn’t be left.

Asia? Obviously not.

Yuuto-san. Koneko-chan. Xenovia.

And then her.

The one she thought everyone might be able to accept leaving if they had to.

I clenched my hand over the blanket.

That part still hurt.

Not because I thought she’d been insulting us.

Because she’d been telling the truth about what she thought was acceptable.

I hated that.

And the worse part was, now that I’d heard everything else, I could see how somebody got there.

I turned my head and stared at the window.

The room was quiet. Too quiet for a house this full.

Maybe everyone else was still asleep.

Or maybe I’d just woken up earlier than the rest because my brain had decided there was no point letting me rest when there had been too many things happening to think about. 

I let out a long breath through my nose.

Then my thoughts slipped back to the rest of the conversation whether I wanted them to or not.

To her name.

Kusari meant chain.

That one still sat in my chest like a lump of iron.

Chain.

A joke made by one of her old “owners” after sealing her for trying to escape.

Owners.

Not just one bastard.

More than one.

More than one peerage.

More than one place where she hadn’t even been treated like a real member, but like something owned and passed around.

I ground my teeth.

If any of those guys were still alive and standing in front of me right now, I’d smash them with a Dragon Shot so hard nothing would be left.

Then my mind slid back to the rest of what she’d told us, and the laugh died before it ever got out.

Yuki Shiramine.

Born with three tails.

Wrong in a way even I could understand after Buchou explained it.

Not “wrong” like bad.

Wrong like the kind of things that weren’t supposed to happen.

Apparently Kitsune are only born with one or nine tails.

And because it didn’t fit, people started getting scared.

Then people started to get cruel.

Then people got used to being cruel.

Then—

I stopped that thought before it could keep going all the way to the end.

But it was still fresh in my head.

The smell of smoke before she knew what was happening.

Her house already burning.

Her running through it trying to find her parents.

The mob outside.

Her father and mother telling her to run.

Her trying to save them anyway.

Her getting caught.

Them pushing her parents back into the house while they were still alive.

I swallowed.

My throat felt tight again.

That image would probably stay in my head forever now.

Not because of the fire itself.

Because of the way she’d said it.

Quiet.

Trying to force herself to be steady.

Like she was forcing every word into shape one at a time and refusing to let herself rush past any of it.

I don’t know if she was doing it to try and explain things clearly to us or to keep from breaking down as she spoke.

Then they dragged her through the village.

Beat her.

Burned her.

Dragged her out to die while she watched her burning home collapse.

Even lying in bed now, safe, in a warm room, under a blanket, next to Buchou and Asia, in a house full of people who cared about her, the memory of hearing that made my chest hurt.

I turned onto my side towards Asia.

She was sleeping soundly and looked so peaceful.

Looking at her made me think of what happened after Yuki-san finished speaking.

Asia getting up first.

Koneko-chan moving almost at the same time.

Both of them going to her.

Holding her.

Yuki-san going stiff for just a second on reflex before she realized who it was.

That had been sad to see, in a different way.

Because it meant even comfort still had to get past old instincts first.

I remembered the way Koneko-chan had said it.

Yuki-senpai, you can stop. You’re safe now.

And somehow hearing Koneko-chan, of all people, say it had made it made her finally break down.

Yuuto had told Yuki-san we were comrades and I had agreed.

I had said it more clumsily, but I had told her that we were here for her.

I remembered Asia crying.

Buchou thanked her for telling us.

Xenovia looked like she was ready to cut someone down after hearing what those people had done to a child.

I paused there.

Akeno-san had been quieter than usual too.

Not just quiet like she was when she was paying close attention.

Something different.

She’d spoken during the earlier part, when Yuki-san explained why she’d been willing to stay behind against Kokabiel.

But once the talk turned fully to Yuki-san’s village, to her title, to the people who had decided fear was enough of a reason to ruin a child, then Akeno-san had reacted to it.

Not with anger or shock like the rest of us.

She just very still.

I could tell that Yuki-san’s story had stuck a chord with her.

She looked lost in thought during some of it. 

I wondered what she’d been thinking.

Probably a lot of things.

Akeno-san always thought more than she let people see.

Then there was Buchou.

I opened my eyes again and stared past Asia at the  wall.

Buchou had admitted it.

That she’d almost allowed Yuki-san to stay behind to fight Kokabiel alone.

That for a moment she’d almost agreed to Yuki-san staying behind if releasing multiple seals would give her the strength to stall Kokabiel long enough.

It had hurt hearing it.

A lot.

But… I also knew how hard it must have been for Buchou to say it.

Not just because it made her look bad.

Because she had to stand there in front of all of us and admit that fear had gotten to her in the exact way a she shouldn’t let it.

I couldn’t stop being angry about it.

But I also couldn’t pretend it was easy for her.

And the line she drew after that did help. 

No one in the peerage decides alone that they’re the one to be sacrificed.

It was something that shouldn’t need to be a rule, but sadly had become one.

I still thought it should never have gotten close to that point in the first place.

But once the words were out, once everything was dragged into the open, I’d meant what I said.

We’re a peerage.

A family.

You don’t decide that kind of thing by yourself and expect everyone else to live with it afterward.

None of us would be the same if we lost someone in the peerage.

I let out another breath.

My head still felt heavy.

Not in a bad way exactly.

Just… full.

Like too many different things to think about at once.

The girls moving in.

The Kokabiel fight.

Buchou and Yuki-san almost making a decision without us.

Kusari meaning chains.

Yuki-san having a promising start to life, only for it to fall apart.

A child watching her home and parents burned before being brutalized by the people she had grown up with.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. 

And then there was me.

Lying here like an idiot and still not sure what to think about all of it.

At least I was still warm and comfortable between Buchou and Asia.

I was still staring at nothing and thinking about all that when a new thought slowly worked its way into my half-awake brain.

Something felt… odd.

I frowned.

Not about last night.

About right now.

About the bed.

For a second I couldn’t place it.

Then I realized there was warmth behind me that wasn’t mine.

My eyes widened.

I froze.

Very slowly, very carefully, I became aware of two things at once.

First—

There was definitely another person besides Asia and Buchou in my bed.

Second—

That person was moving.

Not tossing around in their sleep.

Squirming toward me moving.

My serious thoughts about sacrifice, trauma, names, and the emotional damage of the peerage all got shoved violently to the back of my mind by the much more immediate and much more dangerous thing I had just realized.

There was someone else in my bed besides Buchou and Asia.

They were under the blanket at the foot of the bed and they’re getting closer.

It had to be one of the other girls.

Unless someone broke in and decided to sneak into my bed for some reason. 

A soft shape moved under the blanket, sliding closer with the lazy certainty of somebody who didn’t seem to care if they were caught.

I swallowed.

The shape reached an arm around my waist.

My heart started hammering so hard I was pretty sure it was going to blow up through my chest.

I felt breasts pressing into me as they moved up my body and closer to me.

Slowly, very slowly, I lifted the blanket.

The blanket shifted revealing Akeno-san.

She had her hair down and was wearing a thin yukata. 

“Ufufuf, so you’re awake.” She murmured.

My breath caught in my throat as she shifted up next to me and pressed herself close.

She glanced at Asia and Buchou sleeping next to me and chuckled to herself.

Every thought I’d been having a second earlier vanished in a burst of panic, excitement, and confusion.

She began tracing her fingers up my side.

“Hmmm… you’ve become quite sturdy with Rias’s training, haven’t you Ise-kun? It feels nice.”

“T-Thank you! Buchou has me work hard to get stronger.”

Akeno-san moved to lean over me.

“Ufufufu, I can tell how strong you’ve gotten. But I don’t think we have much time right now. So since we have company why don’t we skip right to—”

A familiar, and scarily cold voice cut Akeno-san off.

“Akeno. What exactly do you think you're doing? When did you come in here?”

_________________________________________

Yuki

Sleep had not come easily.

That wasn’t surprising.

After a night like that, I would have been more alarmed if I had slept well.

I had told them too much.

Or perhaps only too much for one night.

The meaning of Kusari.

The owners.

The village.

My parents.

The fire.

Even now, moving quietly through the hallway in the early morning half-light with a glass of water in my hand, I still felt as though part of me was lagging somewhere behind the rest of my body.

Like I had stretched myself too far and had not fully gathered everything back in.

The house was quiet.

That, more than anything else, felt familiar to me.

But it felt odd for this house.

There were too many people in it now for quiet to feel natural.

Asia and Rias had already moved in and been living here.

Now Akeno, Xenovia, Yuuto, Koneko, and I had moved in as well.

The Hyoudou house wasn’t small before, but after the renovations from the Gremory family last night it was a mansion in comparison.

But even in a large house, that many people should have made mornings less still than this.

My bare feet made almost no noise against the floor as I walked.

I had already changed out of my sleepwear once, then changed back again after deciding I was being foolish.

I was on edge after last night and felt the need to do something.

So I had went to get something to drink and wandered through the newly renovated house for a bit.

That should have been more comforting than it was.

I took a small sip of water as I turned the corner towards my own room.

Then stopped.

There were voices from one of the other rooms up ahead. 

One low and smooth with teasing warmth under it.

One proud and offended in a way I recognized instantly.

Akeno and Rias.

I hesitated.

Ordinarily, hearing them in a hallway at this hour would not have been remarkable.

But the voices were close together, hushed from the door and walls enough to prevent them from waking anyone, and edged with a tension that I could notice from the hall.

I stood still and listened without meaning to.

“…in here?,” Rias was saying.

Akeno answered with something I couldn’t make out.

All I could tell was that she sounded like she was enjoying prodding Rias. 

I stared at the door that their voices were coming from.

My first thought was that they were discussing the room arrangements again.

My second was that if they were, the discussion had somehow become ridiculous.

That was not unusual where those two were concerned.

I took another step.

The voices carried more clearly from the partially open door ahead.

I frowned faintly.

I didn’t remember that room being used last night.

Then again, after move-in chaos, dinner, the peerage conversation, and everything that followed, I hadn’t exactly been keeping track of every door.

It was even worse after the remodeling had been completed.

I reached it and knocked lightly with my free hand.

No answer.

Inside, Rias’s voice sharpened just enough for me to recognize the line as irritation rather than simple conversation.

“‘My’? Since when did you become Ise’s master?”

I blinked in confusion.

Then I pushed the door open and stepped inside. 

And immediately understood three things at once.

First:

This was Issei’s room and it was much larger than before.

Second:

Rias and Akeno were both on Issei’s bed.

Third:

Rias wasn’t wearing anything and what Akeno was wearing barely counted. 

I stopped in the doorway so abruptly I almost spilled the water all over my hand.

The room had that warm, lived in look only a recently slept-in bed could manage.

Sheets thrown back.

Pillows out of place

Early sunlight slipping in weakly enough to soften everything. 

Issei sat stiff and red-faced in sleep clothes, looking as though he was halfway between waking up and dying of panic.

Asia was there too, somehow still asleep in her nightwear, small and soft-looking under the blanket.

And then there were Rias and Akeno, glaring at each other.

Rias stood on the bed completely naked and didn’t seem bothered by it in the slightest.

Akeno was wearing a yukata that was so short and thin it barely counted as clothes.

They looked like they were either going to come to blows or each try to steal Issei before the other could.

“Ara-ara. So this is your room too then?” Akeno asked, smiling darkly “Our only-sama is quite selfish isn’t she? Are you that afraid of your spot next to him?”

Rias’s brow twitched. 

“… It seems we need to have another discussion on who Ise belongs to.”

Rias’s dark crimson demonic power gathered around her.

“Oh? You’re acting quite aggressive during a simple discussion, aren’t you?” Akeno asked.

Akeno’s smile widened as she was enveloped by her own pale-gold demonic power. 

“It’s just a discussion. But it may be your last.” Rias said. 

Issei panickedly looked between them.

I had apparently entered in the brief moment before either option was decided.

For one stupid second, I simply stood there.

Then my instincts returned all at once.

I took one careful step backward.

Then another.

No one had noticed me yet.

Excellent.

I would leave now, quietly, and never speak of what I had just seen.

Asia stirred.

Her eyes fluttered open, still hazy with sleep.

She blinked once, then looked toward the doorway.

And found me.

“Yuki? What are you doing here?” she murmured softly. “Is it morning?”

I closed my eyes for a moment as I accepted that I wasn’t going to escape cleanly.

When I opened them again, all three of the others were looking at me.

Rias looked at me like she was wondering why I was here. 

Akeno looked like she was happy that there was someone new to torment.

Issei looked flustered, excited, and afraid all at once while looking at me and wondering if I would save him or join in the chaos.

He would probably be disappointed to know that I was trying to leave and not get involved.

Asia closed her eyes and appeared to go back to sleep.

If she wasn’t normally so sweet I would want to smack her right now.

All three of them stared at me in an awkward silence.

I considered leaving before anyone decided to say something. 

Then Akeno smiled at me.

That smile told me it was too late.

“Well,” she said, still entirely too calm for a woman nearly naked in the bed of the man another woman had claimed was hers. “So it’s not only me who came to greet Ise-kun this morning.”

As soon as she finished speaking Rias’s gaze on me became sharper and I realized that Akeno had just doomed me to get dragged into whatever it was that I had walked into

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