High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Asia

It had been a few days since I had properly seen Yuki.

Not only at a meal where she arrived late and left early, or in a corridor where she nodded politely before continuing on her way.

Even those moments in passing had become less and less.

I had barely seen her at all.

I wasn't able to spend time with her and do small things, like sitting together, talking, asking if she had slept well, whether her training was going alright, whether anything hurt, whether she wanted tea.

At first I told myself it was only because training had become more serious for everyone.

That was true.

Rias-san had been buried in records, strategies, and Rating Game footage.

Ise-san had gone off with his teacher Tannin-san.

He had looked worried before he had left and I hope that he is doing alright with his training. 

Xenovia-san and Yuuto-san had both left for their training as well.

They had come back yesterday and would be her for another day or so before heading back out again.

We were already halfway through training, so they had returned to check in and recover at the estate.

Yuuto-san had seemed tired and was bruised all over her body when she arrived.

Xenovia-san had been covered in cuts and I had panicked as I immediately rushed to heal her the moment I saw her state.

When I asked if she was alright she had shrugged it off and said it was just part of her training.

Gasper-kun had been training on his own and would head out of the estate every day, only to return looking pale and exhausted.

Both Koneko-chan and Akeno-san had been upset by Azazel-sensei’s training instructions, but they seemed to be doing alright.

Akeno-san was always hard to tell exactly what she was thinking, but she was still coming to meals and teasing people like normal.

Koneko-chan had me worried at first, but she seems to be in a better mood, even if she is training herself to the point of exhaustion each day. 

So, everyone, myself included, was fully focused on training.

So of course it made sense that Yuki would also be busy.

It was only that with her, it no longer felt like only that.

She was absent in a different way.

Like she was throwing herself into it too far.

She was the only one who would sometimes skip our group meals, and I was beginning to suspect she had been sleeping in her practice room instead of her room in the estate.

And there was the other thing too.

The air between her and Rias-san was off.

I don’t think they had fought.

Neither of them had said anything sharp in front of us.

They still answered one another when they had to.

But that was all.

The closeness that had slowly been rebuilding between them was gone again. 

Rias-san looked normal most of the time until Yuki entered the room.

Yuki looked normal most of the time until Rias-san had to answer her directly.

I did not know what had happened.

Only that something had.

And that both of them seemed sadder because of it.

So when Yuuto-san suggested that the three of us check on Yuki after the day’s training, I agreed immediately.

Xenovia-san had agreed too, though she said it in a more practical way.

She had been interested in whatever training Yuki was doing under her teacher.

Now the three of us stood outside of the small building Yuki had been using to train.

It was in a more remote section of the estate.

I had heard that it was an older building that her teacher, Mireia-san, had requested to use as she oversaw Yuki's training.

The path here was quieter than the rest of the residence, less traveled, and it felt like a place you shouldn’t disturb unless it was necessary.

I held a tray in both hands.

It held four cups and a small teapot for us to share.

I hoped that it would help convince Yuki to take a break and make it feel like we were coming to visit her rather than intrude on her training.

Yuuto-san knocked on the closed door.

We waited for a moment, but there was no response.

“Yuki-san is definitely inside, but she may be in the middle of something,” she said softly.

Xenovia-san nodded. “It would be best not to enter all at once.”

I looked down at the tray and then back up.

“I can go first,” I said. “Just to see if she is free. Then, if she wants company, I can call you in.”

Yuuto-san smiled, relieved. “That sounds good.”

Xenovia-san nodded once. “You are the least threatening among us.”

I blinked.

“I think she meant that you’re the most friendly,” Yuuto-san said.

“Asia is the best at making people feel at ease,” Xenovia-san replied.

I took a small breath, steadied the tray in my hands, and knocked.

No answer.

I waited a moment, then knocked again and called out to her.

Still nothing.

I glanced back at the other two.

Yuuto-san gave a tiny encouraging nod.

Xenovia-san was watching the door with her arms crossed.

I smiled at them and turned back to the door.

“I’ll just check,” I murmured.

Then I eased the door open and stepped inside.

The room was dimmer than I expected.

Light still came in through the high windows, but it was dark enough that the magic circles drawn into the floor stood out more clearly.

There were overlapping symbols in chalk and ink, drawn onto the floor.

The air felt heavy for some reason.

Yuki sat in the center of the array with her back to me.

Her silver hair fell down her back in a loose curtain, and even from behind I could see her tails spread around her in a half-circle. 

They were still.

Her posture was upright, but not relaxed.

And Her ears hadn’t shifted towards me when I had opened the door.

I held onto the tray in my hands tighter as something felt off.

“Yuki?” I called softly.

She didn’t answer or move.

I took another careful step inside and nudged the door shut behind me with my heel so it wouldn’t creak and startle her if she was concentrating.

“Yuki,” I tried again, a little louder. “It’s me. I brought tea.”

Still nothing.

I hesitated.

Then took another step closer.

Something felt wrong.

I don’t know if Yuki was concentrating deeply on something or not, but the atmosphere around her felt different.

I was beginning to think that I might need to tell Xenovia-san and Yuuto-san that we should come back later.

I swallowed.

“Yuki? Can you hear me?”

I came close enough then to see what had looked odd from behind.

The fur of her ears had changed.

So had her tails.

Instead of matching her silver-white hair like they normally did, they were a deep black.

The tips of her tails and ears were the only part to still have color, and those had changed to a dull red that seemed to shift faintly as I watched.

It looked beautiful.

It also made my stomach drop.

I had seen a few stray Devils before.

They always had physical changes.

Some were more pronounced and disgusting than others, but they were never small.

If Yuki was becoming a stray then maybe I still had a chance to help her before it got worse.

I stopped.

The tray in my hands rattled softly.

At that sound, Yuki finally moved.

She turned.

For one second, I could tell something more was different, but I could not understand what.

Then I did.

Her eyes had changed too.

The pupils were narrower, more slit than round, and the whites around them held strange ringed patterns that made her gaze seem too deep, too focused, too impossible to look away from.

There were thin, crimson lines on her skin that I noticed next.

They were only really visible when she moved.

Her hands were tipped with claw like nails.

When her lips parted slightly in surprise, I saw that her teeth looked like they were sharper.

And the way she looked at me was off too.

It made me want to freeze and hold still when her eyes settled on me.

I was so taken aback by her changes that almost dropped the tray before anything else happened.

“Y-Yuki, what h-happened to you? I-I-I can go get help, s-so j-just stay there.”

My voice trembled as I took a small step back.

This time, her head tilted just slightly at the sound of her name.

Her gaze moved down over my body before coming back up to lock eyes with me.

Then she moved.

The tray went flying.

I let out a sharp cry of surprise as she crossed the space between us in a blur of movement and knocked me onto my back.

The world tilted.

Something crashed somewhere to my left.

Then all I could feel was Yuki over me.

Her weight pressed me into the floor, not crushing, but definite.

Her knees pinned either side of my hips.

Her hands caught my wrist and pressed them over my head before I could react.

“Y-Yuki!”

I tried to twist free.

I really did.

But I had never been stronger than her even on an ordinary day, and whatever had happened to her now only made the difference worse.

She loomed over me, her hair falling around us and blocking the small amount of light in the room from reaching me.

All I could see were her changed eyes as they seemed to glow as she looked down on me.

“Wait—please—”

She bent down before I could finish and buried her face against the crook of my neck.

I froze.

Her breath was warm against me and I could feel the prick of her teeth hovering close to my skin.

Her nose brushed just beneath my jaw as though she were breathing me in.

The feeling was strangely intimate and so wrong in its suddenness that my whole body went hot with shock.

“Yuki!” I cried again, more frightened and more flustered than before. “What are you doing!?”

Her answer came low and husky in a way that made me shiver.

“Asia…”

My name in her mouth did not sound like it usually did.

I tried to pull my arms loose again.

It didn’t work.

Her tails had shifted around us while I struggled.

The black fur brushed over my side and legs, not binding me, but surrounding me in a way that made escape feel farther away.

She rubbed her face once more into the side of my neck and shoulder, slow and deliberate, and the motion sent another terrible wash of heat through me.

I did not know whether to scream for help or apologize to her or just keep trying to get free.

So I did the only thing I could.

“Yuuto-san! Xenovia-san!”

The door burst open before I even finished the second name.

The sound of rushed footsteps filled the room

Yuuto-san first, Xenovia-san half a breath behind her.

Both of them stopped so abruptly that the silence after their entrance felt loud.

I understood why the moment I saw their faces.

They hadn’t expected anything like this

Not Yuki above me on the floor in some changed version of herself, eyes ringed and dark, hands clawed, fur changed, mouth too close to my throat.

Her head turned sharply toward them.

The look in her eyes changed.

They turned hard and angry as Yuuto-san and Xenovia-san approached us.

I felt it in the way her body shifted over mine, as if some instinct in her wanted to place herself more fully between me and anyone approaching.

The pressure in the room deepened again.

Her tails spread out behind her like an animal that wanted to appear bigger.

Yuuto-san’s expression hardened at once.

“Yuki-san,” she said, voice low and very controlled. “Release her.”

Xenovia-san had already moved one foot forward, her body angled in the unmistakable posture of someone preparing to intervene physically if the next second required it.

Yuki looked between them.

Then back down at me.

For the first time, I saw something like awareness break through the strange haze in her face.

She looked at me and I saw horror beginning to rise under the hunger that had been in her eyes until now.

Her expression twisted.

Then she shut her eyes.

I felt it before I understood it.

She began to change.

The heavy, predatory pressure she had been emitting began to pull back in pieces.

Her hand on my wrist trembled once.

Her breath caught.

Her claws receded slightly, then her hands quickly returned to normal.

The fur of her tails and ears seemed to lighten gradually as the dark coloring receded.

When her eyes opened, they were back to normal too.

She immediately looked panicked and ashamed.

She quickly let go of my wrists and pushed herself off and away from me so fast it was as if she had been burned.

She pushed herself into a sitting position far away from me.

I sat up quickly, breathing hard, and noticed the broken remains of the tea tray around us.

The cups had shattered, dark tea had spread across one side of the magic circle on the floor, and there were porcelain pieces scattered over the floor.

“I-I’m sorry,” she said immediately.

Her voice wasn’t like when she was her normal, calm self.

It was more raw.

She sounded scared.

“I-I was practicing, and-and  I didn't hear you! I’m so sorry! I-I shouldn’t have let that happen! I didn't mean t-to do that to you, Asia,” she said quickly. She was starting to breathe more shallowly as she went. “I didn't realize what I was doing until you yelled for them…”

Her voice grew quieter and more weak as she finished.

Yuki stared at the mess only for a second before looking back at me.

At my neck.

Her expression tightened with naked horror.

“I’m sorry, Asia,” she said again, her voice was barely a whisper.

“What was that?” Yuuto-san asked.

She was still slightly on guard but seemed more relaxed now that Yuki had returned to normal.

“I was in a state I had created for myself with Lady Mireia in order to get around the backlash of my seals. It…. It causes some changes that I have been trying to learn to control.” Yuki replied.

Xenova-san stood to the side watching us with interest.

“Are you alright, Asia?” she asked.

“I-I think I’m fine Xenovia-san. I was just scared for a moment.” I replied.

My voice sounded shaky in my own ears.

Xenovia-san nodded to me before turning to Yuki.

“And are you alright Yuki?”

“…I’m fine Xenovia-san. Thank you.” She replied quietly. 

“You-You aren’t turning into a stray Devil?” I asked, tears starting to build in my eyes.

That seemed to stop the panic that had been building in Yuki in its tracks.

She looked completely confused.

“I’m not, like I said I was—“

“Thank God!” I said as I rushed to hug her. “Thank God! Thank God, you’re alright!”

She froze when I crashed into her with a hug.

“I-I thought you were turning into a stray Devil! B-But you’re not. You’re alright. You're fine…. I don’t know what I would do if that happens to you Yuki.”

Yuki slowly and cautiously returned my hug.

“Nothing like that is happening, Asia. I’m alright,” she said. “But I… I almost hurt you, Asia. I don’t know if I would have been able to stop myself.”

“You scared me, but you didn’t hurt me, Yuki. I know that you wouldn’t do something like that to me.” I said.

I stood up and went to help Yuki to her feet after I did.

She looked at my hand for a moment before quietly taking it and standing.

“You don’t have to forgive me, Aisa. I don’t have an excuse for—“

“I said it’s alright Yuki!” I cut her off strongly. “You didn’t hurt me. It was embarrassing and scary, but nothing happened. So it’s fine!”

I gave her a stern look to let her know I wouldn’t back down.

Yuki looked at Xenovia-san and Yuuto-san.

“I think that she’s not going to give up on this Yuki-san,” Yuuto-san said. “You should just accept it. I think you’ll both feel better if you do.”

Yuki looked back at me before letting out a sigh.

“Fine. I’ll drop it for now. But only because Asia is hardly intimidating when she glares like that,” Yuki said.

I flushed immediately.

“I am not! I can be tough and intimidating if I want!” I pouted as I replied.

The three of them stared at me.

Then Yuki turned to Yuuto-san.

“So why did you stop by?” She asked Yuuto-san.

“Asia mentioned that you had been holed up in here training, so we decided to come visit.” Yuuto-san replied.

“Hey!” I shouted at them for ignoring me. 

Yuuto-san chuckled and I saw the corner of Yuki’s mouth twitch upwards slightly.

Seeing her finally start to relax made me smile. 

Yuki had scared me, and I definitely felt embarrassed when I thought about it.

But I didn’t like how she panicked.

She looked horrified with herself.

I think if I hadn’t managed to calm her down with my worry that she would have spiraled with guilt and self hate.

And Yuki didn’t deserve that.

She had already been so hurt by cruel people in her life.

She didn’t need to direct more hate at herself.

“What exactly was that Yuki? You said it was a new ability?” Xenovia-san asked

Yuki grimaced at the reminder of what had happened.

Then she answered.

“Like I said, it’s a new state ability.”

Yuuto-san’s gaze sharpened. “Those changes were from that state?”

Yuki nodded.

“Lady Mireia and I have been building it for several days. You could think of it like how you and Issei-san can enter a Balance Breaker state.” She swallowed once. “I can enter it now. Briefly. But I don’t control it well enough yet.”.

“It’s as powerful as a Balance Breaker?”  Xenovia-san asked, sounding immediately interested.

“No,” Yuki replied. “That was just the easiest comparison I could think of. While it does make me stronger and help me channel my demonic energy, it mainly gives me power that I should already have, but at a cost.”

“Was your strange behavior the cost?”

Yuki hesitated.

Her eyes flicked once toward me and then away again.

Then she nodded slowly.

“In simple terms, it aligns my body better with my curse magic,” she said. “The backlash of my spells becomes more manageable while I’m in it. The state itself…” She stopped, then forced herself to continue. “It affects my mind while I’m in it, and it gets worse the longer I stay in it.

Yuuto-san’s eyes narrowed slightly in thought. “Worse how?”

Yuki’s ears lowered just a fraction.

“It enhances my more animalistic Kitsune instincts. It strips away inhibition and makes certain impulses stronger. Easier to act on.” She looked at me again. “And it takes focus to end it. I can’t simply decide to stop and be out of it instantly.”

That explained why she had acted how she did when I arrived.

“But what about the physical changes?” I asked.

She gave a small shrug.

“They appeared when I started to create the state,” Yuki replied. “They seem to be a byproduct of my body’s alignment to my curse magic.”

Xenovia-san crossed her arms. “Training around others is clearly a bad idea.”

Yuki let out a breath that might almost have been a laugh if the shame hadn’t been heavier inside it.

“Yes, you’re right.”

I found my own voice again.

“You didn’t mean to do anything to me.”

“No,” she said immediately.

Then, again, quieter, “No.”

I could hear the shame in it the second time.

I wanted to comfort her, but knew that she needed time.

She had been affected worse by what happened than I was.

We started to clean up then.

Yuuto-san went and got some towels from a closet in the room and began to clean up the tea. 

Xenovia-san and Yuki began to pick up the fragments of the teas cups and tea pot.

I gathered the tray and went to help Yuuto-san. 

I noticed Yuki glancing at me now and then as we cleaned.

Once the worst of the mess was cleared, the four of us settled near the edge of the room instead of the center.

Yuuto-san asked a few more careful questions.

Xenovia-san asked much blunter ones.

I watched Yuki.

She had relaxed slightly, but I could tell it was bothering her.

It might for a while, knowing her.

I wished I could help her see that it wasn’t her fault, that I didn’t blame her for it and wasn’t scared of her because of it.

I just wanted my friend to be alright.

“Have you named it yet?” I asked once Xenovia-san and Yuuto-san seemed like they were mostly done asking questions.

“Malediction’s Embrace.”

It sounded fitting from how she explained the way she created it.

“And now we know not to walk in unexpectedly,” Yuuto-san said gently.

That was kind of her.

Yuki still looked miserable.

“I should have heard Asia sooner.”

“You were training,” I said.

“I still should have heard you.”

I placed my hand on her arm and gave a small squeeze.

She looked up at me before looking back at her lap. 

Then Xenovia-san decided to ask more of her blunt questions.

“So while in the state, you become more aggressive.”

Yuki gave her a flat look. “Yes.”

“And more territorial.”

Yuki’s ear twitched. “Apparently.”

Yuuto-san coughed once into her hand, very politely hiding the fact that she almost smiled.

Heading that made me blush.

Mostly because every time I remembered exactly how Yuki had looked when she was over me in that state, my face grew hot all over again.

I shook my head.

I looked at her for a moment before deciding to ask the question that had been bothering me since before we entered this room.

“Yuki,” I said softly, before Xenovia-san could continue..

She looked at me immediately.

“Is your training the only reason you’ve been so absent lately?”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!