The New Issei

The next morning Issei woke up to something he did not expect. Kuroka was in his bed clinging to him. He froze because he did not want to wake her up and from the shock of having a girl in his bed.

Issei: "Ddraig what the hell is going on and why did you not wake me up?" He thought angrily.

Ddraig: "You told me to wake you up if she got up. She did this while still asleep." He said in an amused tone of voice.

Issei: "Why would she cling to me while still being asleep Ddraig?" He asked while looking at Kuroka and being slightly worried about her.

Ddraig: "She must have found your scent comforting and sought to be closer to it while sleeping. To those with a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e nose your smell seems warm and welcoming." He said while chuckling.

Issei: "Oh well, not like I should be complaining about a beautiful girl clinging to me, right?" He said while shaking his head and sighing. "Lets just hope the whole cliche where she hits me when she wakes up does not happen." He said while looking slightly worried. Ddraig started laughing his a.s.s off when he pictured that making Issei pout. Kuroka then began to stir in his arms. When she woke up she looked up at Issei's face while having her eyes half closed and still being half asleep. When she saw him her eyes snapped open and she immediately jumped out of the bed and glared at Issei.

Kuroka: "Who are you and what did you do to me?" She asked fiercely as she began to use Youjutsu to summon flames around her in the air.

Issei: "Whoa now! Hold on for a second! Do you not remember anything from last night? I healed you and let you sleep here for the night. You crawled into my bed on your own! I did nothing to you!" He said as he jumped out of the bed as well. This caused Kuroka to calm down slightly and frown. She then began to remember what had happened last night before she blushed slightly and dismissed the fire.

Kuroka: "I'm sorry. My head was still foggy and I forgot about last night. Thank you for saving me." She said as she smiled at him. Her face then turned mischievous as she asked. "So you didn't take advantage of my helpless state to take a peak or two? That really makes me lose some confidence in my looks." She said this in a teasing tone. She then pulled on the kimono she was wearing slightly and said. "I am not wearing anything under this, you know? Are you sure your not curious?" This caused Issei to go red as a lobster as he panicked slightly. It was obvious she was teasing him but seeing it happen on T.V. and having it happen to you are two different things.

Issei: "I really did not do anything!! Please stop teasing me!" He said while being fl.u.s.tered.

Kuroka: "Your reactions are really cute, so I do not think I will ever stop teasing you. But that is enough for now." She said while sitting down on the other bed in the room and smirking at him. Issei just sighed at this and sat down on his own bed.

Issei: "Now lets properly introduce ourselves. I am Issei Hyoudou, a Mage and an Enchanter." He said while smiling at her.

Kuroka: "I am Kuroka, a Nekoshou and reincarnated devil. Though it would be a stray devil now." She said sadly. She also looked at Issei while being worried he might be afraid of her now.

Issei: "Well I can't say I am to fond of how devils do things. So if your a stray I will ask the reason why before I judge you." He said while smiling at her gently. This caused Kuroka to start crying and jump on him, hugging him. He hugged her back gently and let her cry, she obviously needed to since she was shaking in his arms. "You are alright now, let it all out." He said while rubbing her back. She then started to cry harder and hold him tighter. Ten minutes later she finally calmed down somewhat and pulled back from him, but still stayed in his arms.

Kuroka: "Thank you for everything Issei. Can I trust you? Can I tell you about me without worrying you may come to hate me?" She asked in a worried tone of voice. As she asked this she used her Senjutsu to sense whether or not his response would be a lie.

Issei: "You can trust me Kuroka. If you need someone to confide in, I will listen without judging you and I will keep your secrets to myself." He said as he gently held her and rubbed her back. He knew she was using Senjutsu but he did not really care and let her sense the truth in his words. "I will not come to hate you just because of something you did. I am not a Devil or a Yokai so you do not really need to worry about me judging you by their standards." He said as he gently picked her up and sat her next to him. "Now why don't you tell me your story and I will help you if I can." Kuroka was shocked from the truth she felt in his words as well as the care he felt for her. She relaxed more and felt safe for the first time in years.

Kuroka: "Thank you." She said quietly. The words holding all the emotions she felt at that moment. She then leaned on him and began to tell him her entire story. From the very beginning to the end and how she had ended up on the run for the past month. She held nothing back as she told him about her parents, how she became a devil and why, the experiments, about her sister, and why she had killed her previous master. She told him everything. After she said it all she looked at him with worried eyes and asked. "Can you still say that you would not judge me. I killed my master."

Issei: "That trash deserved to die. You were protecting your sister. Why would I judge you for that?" He said as he hugged her to him. The experiments she had described made him sick, the anime had not really gone into detail so he did not know the true extent of the torture she had been through. It made him furious, if he had come across those bastards himself he would have wiped them all out. "If I had been in your shoes I would have killed them all instead of just that bastard, and I would have snapped a lot sooner than you did." He said as he smiled at her gently. His smile made Kuroka feel warm inside and so did his words.

Kuroka: "Thank you Issei." She said as she hugged him tighter. "Your words and acceptance mean a lot to me."

Issei: "You seem to be thanking me a lot, even though I didn't really do anything." He said while chuckling. Kuroka also chuckled after he said that.

Kuroka: "You have done for me in the last day more then anyone has for me in my life, Issei. I think its normal to thank you." She said while smiling and cuddling up to him.

Issei: "Well now we need to talk about some serious things, so why don't you go sit on the other bed so we can focus." He said in a serious tone of voice.

Kuroka: "So we can focus? Or so that you can?" She said teasingly as she got up and went to sit across from him. This caused Issei to blush slightly and smile.

Issei: "If a man does not get distracted when a beautiful girl is cuddling with him, then he has something wrong with him." He said as he chuckled and smiled at her. This time it was Kuroka that blushed and fidgeted while looking away from him. But she was also smiling slightly from the compliment.

Kuroka: "Glad to know I at least have some effect on you." She said as she calmed down. "Now what did you mean by serious things?"

Issei: "Well mostly about what you want to do now." He said as he smiled at her. Kuroka's smile stiffened as he said this and she looked down while being tense.

Kuroka: "I do not know what I want to do. I can't stay in one place for to long or the trackers will catch up to me. So I will have to constantly be on the move." She said sadly. She did not really want to leave Issei now that she had finally found someone who accepted her and who actually cared about her situation.

Issei: "I did not ask about what you think you have to do. I asked what you want to do." He said while looking her in the eyes. Kuroka began to tear up as she heard that.

Kuroka: "I want to stay with you. I want to meet my sister again. I do not want to worry about being hunted anymore." She said while starting to cry slightly.

Issei: "Then stay with me. I will protect you. I can make barriers to prevent you being tracked as well as give you an artifact to hide your signature. You can live without worrying about them finding you. As for your sister, I will help you find her when you are strong enough to not worry about who she is with. Stay by my side Kuroka, I will give you a new life." He said as he went forward and hugged her. It pained him to see her like this after all she had been through. He had no clue that what he had said sounded like he was proposing. It caused Kuroka to go bright red in his arms. But she did not mind, she felt safe with him holding her. Ddraig was laughing his a.s.s off at how clueless his partner could be sometimes.

Kuroka: "No regretting this later, Issei. There will be no getting rid of me later, your stuck with me now." She said as she looked up at him while blushing and smiling.

Issei: "I will never regret this. You deserve a chance to be happy. I am merely helping you with that." He said while smiling back at her. She then did something that shocked him. She kissed him.

Kuroka: "Then I am now yours and you are mine." She said as she pulled back from the kiss and smiled at him. Issei was dumbfounded.

Issei: "How the hell did it go from me offering her protection to suddenly her kissing me?" He asked himself in disbelief. He quickly thought back over what he had said and realized it had sounded pretty misleading. He was about to correct Kuroka when Ddraigs words from the previous night came back to him. If he turned Kuroka down now she might break inside, and he did not want that. Plus he really did want her to be happy and if she wanted to be with him for that, then who was he to turn down a woman that had fallen for him. As he was thinking this Kuroka was getting worried because he had not responded to her and had a complicated look on his face. She started to realize he may not have meant that he wanted to be with her in that way and it hurt. Just as she was about to pull away and run away from here, he tightened his grip on her and kissed her himself. When they pulled back from the kiss he said. "Sorry about not responding immediately, I was just shocked." He said as he held her close and smiled at her. Kuroka felt relief flood her as she heard this.

Kuroka: "I am so glad he did not turn me away. I do not think I could have taken that." She thought as she looked at Issei with a look of happiness on her face. "Thank you for accepting me Issei. I think I know why you hesitated and I am glad you did not turn me down. The decision I made was not a light one. When we Nekoshou fall in love it effects us greatly. We value our loved ones greatly and if you had turned me away I do not know what might have happened to me. So thank you." she said as she hugged him tightly. This caused Issei to think back on the anime and realize that what she said is true. Koneko had been broken when she thought her sister had betrayed her, loosing most of her emotions in the process. It took Rias and the rest of her peerage a lot of time and effort to break through her shell enough that she at least felt some things. When she had fallen for Issei she had been like another person entirely and was devoted to him and pretty possessive of him. She had become just as competitive as the other girls when it came to trying to win his affections. It also led to her coming out of her shell completely and gaining all of her emotions back.

Issei: "I am just glad I realized you were serious and did not brush you off. But Kuroka you need to know some things about me before this goes any further. I do not want to hurt you by you finding out later on." He said in a serious tone of voice while looking at her.

Kuroka: "No matter what it is, I have chosen to be by your side. My choice will not change." She said while smiling at him gently.

Issei: "I have other women I am in love with. I plan on having a harem, are you sure you want to be with someone like that?" He asked her with concern in his voice.

Kuroka: "I do not mind, so long as you accept me and do not abandon me. I will never leave you. Plus you are obviously strong, since you can hide me from my pursuers so easily. You will have many women who will be attracted to that strength in the future. There will also be those who are attracted to your kindness like I am." She said while smiling at him lovingly. "Just promise me you will never treat me or the others as nothing more than objects." She said as her face turned serious.

Issei: "I would never do something like that. Also I will never accept a woman who is only after my power. If I am going to accept someone they have to genuinely love me. It is also a promise I made to one of the other women I love." He said in an equally serious tone of voice. "Now I also have to tell you about me, after all it is dangerous being with me." This caused Kuroka to have a curious look on her face. Before he told her about himself he moved her onto his l.a.p while sitting down and relaxed while cuddling. He then told her all about his training and about how strong he actually is. He even told her about being the Red Dragon Emperor and that being with him may drag her into more trouble in the future. When she heard all this Kuroka was shocked but also proud. The man she loved was currently one of the strongest people alive. It made her excited and happy that he had accepted her.

Kuroka: "Wow, I did not expect you to be THAT strong. It makes me proud to stand by your side." She said as she smiled at him happily. "As for the whole being dragged into more trouble by being with you, I do not care about it. When it happens we will just face it together." She said as she kissed him lightly. "You have won my heart, it will not be that easy to scare me away."

Issei: "Thank you Kuroka, that means a lot to me." He said as he held her. After they had finished this talk Issei made Kuroka a pendent like the one Irina had with a red dragon, but the gem was a large Opal. The Enchantments are the same as Irina's but has the added effect of hiding her signature and making it so that people who are looking for her would just pass her by. One would have to be as strong as Sirzechs to find her. After he was done making her the necklace, they checked out of the hotel and headed to the train station. Issei got two first class tickets to Kuoh for them and they boarded the train. After they were seated he told her. "When we get to Kuoh I am going to have to take care of a few things I have been putting off. Do you want to accompany me or stay at my Safe House until I finish?"

Kuroka: "I want to stay with you, so long as I will not be getting in the way." She said as she looked at him with a slight pleading look on her face.

Issei: "Alright, but you may not like what I am going to do. So I hope you will not judge me to harshly." He said as he looked away from her. What he was going to do made him feel guilty, but after the whole thing in England he believed it needed to be done.

Kuroka: "I will stay with you no matter what you do. I told you it would not be that easy to get rid of me." She said while smiling at him.

Issei: "Thanks Kuroka. I think I will need that support later." He said as he looked at her with a grateful look in his eyes.

Kuroka: "Anything you need, I will help if I can." She said in a caring tone as she smiled at him gently. They then spent the rest of the trip in silence cuddling with each other.