Beta read by Shigiya
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Gremory garden-
-Gremory garden-
One emotion ran rampant inside the young Nekoshou when facing the source of her fear and anxiety from the past.
Call it love or hate, Koneko had many emotions swimming around in her head about her big sister… some good but most were either traumatic and heart breaking. The Shirone of the past loved her dearly but Koneko didn't know what to feel anymore — it was all just too confusing and nauseatingly complex.
"What are you doing here…" she asked cautiously, scanning her surroundings for any exits despite Kuroka having told her that it would be futile. Though trusting her words would be a foolish mistake, even if Koneko had no way to contest against an ultimate class being… She didn't want to give up so early on.
"Ara nya~♪ Didn't I tell you to listen to your big sister's words? Why are you so nervous? I won't hurt you, I promise!" That was quite hard to believe, she needed to get out of here and join her King or get inside the Manor. Kuroka was powerful, but not a fool willing to break inside the Gremory House with Sirzechs nearby — probably.
Bam!
The white haired girl pushed against the ground, using her greater strength to compensate for the lack in speed. Her destination was the southern gate, the opposite side of where her sister was. 'She's not chasing me?'
To her surprise, Kuroka didn't move from her spot.
Unfortunately, Koneko soon found out the reason why as her body struck against an invisible wall with a loud bang! "Ah!" Holding her red which received the brunt of the force, the girl fell onto the floor dazed and petrified. She was surrounded by an unknown force field, trapped and held hostage by one of the most dangerous person in the Underworld.
She was resisting the urge to fall into a panic attack, her heartbeat increased dramatically when thinking about her situation. Wanting nothing more than to leave and hide from her sister.
Gathering her senses, she got back up and used her full strength to land a punch onto the barrier. Another loud bang followed but aside a few ripples, not a single crack appeared. "This is…" an old memory of the past came back, when she, Kiba, Akeno and the Sona peerage members fought against Jeanne. "You're with them! That blond lady, Jeanne, the one who nearly killed Yuuto-senpai."
This only further hardened her resolve about getting away from Kuroka.
"Them? I'm not sure who you're talking about… Oh! Jeanne, you mean the Hero Faction, nya? Well it's a bit complicated, though I can see you don't like them as much as the Black Dragon King — because he had the same expression on his face." Kuroka wasn't completely up to date with matters concerning the Gremory peerage. There were holes in her knowledge about certain events they were involved in including an encounter with what exactly happened during their meeting with the Hero Faction.
Her younger sister must have confused the barrier magic with George's ability. This one was a simple barrier that scaled with her magic reserves and power, so calling it powerful would be accurate. But it wasn't as impressive as a Sacred Gear ability.
'Did he hurt Shirone?' A dark thought passed through her mind, if those people did in fact hurt her cute little sister, then she would pay them a visit after this.
"I'm asking this again, what do you want…"
It was adorable to see her little Shirone take a fighting stance with a serious face like that, it made Kuroka want to pinch her cheeks.
"It should be quite obvious, I'm here to take you with me!" Kuroka announced loudly, shaking the young girl's heart.
"W-What?" Take her away? Take her from her Buchou, Hachiman-senpai and her friends?
No!
She didn't want that!
The mere idea of going through such a harrowing event made her relive through the day Kuroka went mad with power and killed their king before leaving her all alone.
"Why do you look so sad?" Kuroka asked, jumping down the tree, taking a step forward as Koneko retreated a step, her body trembling — looking genuinely confused and worried. "We will be together once again like we were supposed to. Us sisters shouldn't stay separated for so long, it pains me to see you so far away…"
"I-I am Rias Gremory's Rook!" She shouted, getting hacked up against the barrier with nowhere to run. Her voice quivered, while her skin turned paler.
"You're not an object belonging to some Devil heiress, Shirone!"
Koneko flinched.
"Buchou never treated me like that!" She never saw herself as an object owned by anybody to begin with. Rias considered her as a family member, so did Akeno and Kiba. Gasper was like her little brother and Hachiman treated her like a little sister from the beginning. Having a warm home with people who loved her was a dream Koneko already lived in and the idea of getting seperated from them terrified her.
"Oh please, you can't trust these Devils, Shirone. They'll turn their back on you at one point in the future. I don't want you to go through the same thing I did in the past, that's why I came here, to save you!" She tried to relay her intentions as much as possible to her sister. "If Rias Gremory truly respected you then why change your name to Koneko? You're not Koneko, but Shirone! If she truly cares about your well-being then she wouldn't have turned into her Rook! Don't you see how she got her peerage? Everyone around her had a tragic past and when seeking help she always appears waiting with an Evil Piece in her hand. She doesn't care about you, she merely wants your Nekoshou side to win these ridiculous Rating Games!"
Very rarely would Kuroka be angry, but when facing her sister with so much bottled up emotions inside her — some of it began to leak. An arduous task it was to keep a calm facade when facing so much resistance, so much fear and abhorrence.
In the end, Koneko could no longer hold it in and lashed out.
"At least they didn't abandon me!" The phrase pierced Kuroka's heart, making it so painful just to bear it. "They didn't left me all alone in a burning house!"
She couldn't bring her sister along.
Kuroka could still remember the night of the incident. She thought about it every day for years. Back then, all that mattered was protecting her Shirone from Naberius' experiments. She was supposed to be the only Nekoshou her former King would conduct various twisted experiments on while keeping his promise to leave her sister out of this mess. Enduring the torture that nearly made her lose herself many times, yet her willpower held on.
When he divulged his intentions to experiment on her sister, Kuroka begged him to not do it but Naberius was too engrossed in his research for the creation of a Super Devil and didn't listen to her. Left with little to no choice, she lashed out and killed him.
But then Kuroka realised the consequences of her actions, she was riddled with confusions, stress and anxiety over her case. Her mind was muddled with negative thoughts and a general mess that she didn't know what to do anymore. The scene of the little white haired girl crawling away from her blood soaked hands with terror was an image that remained ingrained in Kuroka's mind. Fearing not only the Devils but herself, she did the only thing that came to mind — run away.
An action Kuroka regretted till now, if only she had remained behind, then Shirone would have been with her.
That was why she came here specifically, to rectify the errors of the past and fulfil her wish.
"You don't understand, I-I was doing it all for you…"
Unfortunately for her, Koneko wasn't willing to listen, "Liar!"
"Please, I'm now in a better place with people that are more trustworthy compared to the Devils you frequent, Shirone. They've taken care of me and they'll take care of you, trust your sister!"
She tried to approach her for a grab, but that seemed to push Koneko even more to a more desperate frenzy and Kuroka's senses picked up some minor Senjutsu smell coming off of the white haired girl. She backed away, easily dodging a vicious punch that went onto shattering a nearby tree.
Koneko flew past her, her body crashing onto the floor as she failed to land properly. Kuroka shook her head and sighed. "You can't even use Senjutsu, Touji and even Youjutsu at a beginners level. I heard that you can heal others with it, but that method is just crudely injecting some of that energy inside wounds to accelerate healing. It barely works due to luck, without proper training you're bound to make mistakes and stagnate. I can help you with that, we have a whole team of masters with us."
Bang!
Her palm blocked another full powered strike by Koneko, who this time used her legs. "I won't lose control like you."
Her answer was met with a slight tap to her solar plexus which pushed the air out of her lungs.
"Lost of control? There is truth to the fact that nature's energy is tainted to some extent, but it won't cause our species or any full blooded Youkai to lose control." Koneko jumped away hastily to get away. Kuroka wondered how bad had her actions was to affect her little sister's understanding on Senjutsu. "This is getting annoying, nya! I'm asking this again for one last time, Shirone. Are you joining me or not? Or else I'm going to use force! I'm not above hurting those Gremory people to prove my point!"
Koneko panicked, she would rather than let Kuroka attack any of them. They were her family and she loved them just as much. The desire to protect them grew stronger than her self preservation and seeing no other possibility — the girl was about to give up.
"I hate you," the girl snarled, her eyes tearing up. "Hachiman-senpai treated me better."
"—!" A wound that further grew worse, as if adding salt to her previous injuries. Kuroka managed to read the hidden meaning behind those words and they only served to increase the unfairness in her heart. "Ara, Shirone has replaced her big sister with someone else, nya? Guess I should break a few bones or take away a few lives after all…"
The killing intent that wafted off of her tone broke any and all resistance Koneko had.
"N-No! Don't hurt them, I… I will fo—"
A rage filled voice cut her off.
"[Balance Breaker: Sword of the Destroyer!]"
Slice!
A large gash appeared upon the surface of the spell. Both girls were shocked to find Kiba rushing in with his Sacred Gear's strongest form fully brought out. He moved at speeds worthy of a Knight, even faster than his past self during the Kokabiel fight. Kuroka didn't try to block the attack, her senses telling her not to.
"Nya!" She jumped out of the way before the black gladius-like sword slashed the ground, cutting through the layers of bricks and stone to create a metre deep large cut. "Where did this guy come from!?"
"Yuuto… senpai?" Koneko was in disbelief, she didn't expect Kiba to have come here to face Kuroka and even how he managed to sense something was wrong given her sister told her that the space was sealed and hidden from others.
A smile formed on his face, looking as if he already understood her confusion. "Hey there, Hachiman told me to keep an eye on you and make sure you're safe."
Hachiman said to do such a thing?
Why?
"To be honest, I was a bit confused at first as to why he'd ask me to do such a thing given we're in quite a safe area — but seeing what happened now… no wonder he was worried." His gaze turned cold, devoid of any of the warmth he'd shown to Koneko when looking at Kuroka. "The barrows were a pain to cut through, so I was forced to use my Sword of the Destroyer to get in. Now, leave my friend alone."
Kuroka started laughing, "Nyahahaha! This is funny! You think you can stop me from getting my sister, little Knight?"
Certainly that sword of his looked quite intimidating, but as long as she could stay away from it then there was nothing to worry about.
"And she's MY little sister, I can do whatever I want, nya." Her smile remained but the annoyance seeping through her voice couldn't be hidden. "And do you honestly think that you can stop me? Why don't you try it!" Kuroka's figure disappeared like a blur before reappearing right in front of Kiba.
"Watch out!" Koneko shouted.
Clang!
Claws met steel, sparks flying everywhere as he slid back a few metres, still holding his stance as the boy managed to take on the attack.
"Hooo, not bad at all!"
What followed was a flurry of a series of attacks that forced Kiba to defend against each one and push himself to the limit. As hard as he tried, he couldn't land a single hit. Even the slightest move he tried to make was countered by her.
Kuroka moved faster than before, her claws coated with Magic and Senjutsu, able to keep up with his sword. But Kiba did not panic, he refused to lose his rationality during battle like his past self.
"Oh?" She noticed a weird effect. Normally her attacks should have already incapacitated him but instead... They grew weaker? With each clash, the nature energy that coated her arm for defence kept getting dimmer and dimmer. It didn't take long for her to realise that this sword was the one behind this phenomenon. "That's quite an interesting ability, it reminds me of someone."
Kiba didn't bother replying, he couldn't afford to focus on a conversation instead of the battle like Kuroka. The boy suspected she wasn't even fighting seriously against him.
"[Sword Birth!]" His sword pierced the ground where dozens of blades emerged, all viciously going for Kuroka who frowned before jumping in the air.
"Fire sword!"
With another weapon summoned, this one coated with arcs of flames. With a wave of the new weapon, a pillar of fire formed from the ground before engulfing the surprised Kuroka.
"I'm not done yet!"
Dismissing his Flame sword, a magic circle formed within his palm. The use of magic and spells remained a weak point for him, but he grew capable of using a couple of offensive attacks — one of which he coped from Hachiman.
"Magic Arrows!"
It was more appropriate to call them spears instead of arrows with their current size. Dozens of projectiles shooting right for the fire pillar before exploding.
"Wha—?!"
The pillars vanished and the magic fizzled out leaving nothing but scorched earth behind. Kuroka was in a bad shape, her clothes were mostly burned with grace burn marks all over her body. Koneko's expression changed into one of shock as she saw what had happened. No matter how much power she had, she wasn't certain to even come close to her sister. Yet here was Kiba, capable of not only keeping up but even able to push her back!
The girl's hands clenched, just how far behind was she compared to the rest? Did she really need to dive deeper in the use of Senjutsu? But... she had no teacher to speak of, even Hachiman studied the subject with the same material as her.
"Wow! That was impressive, nya!"
"Wha—argh!" Kiba turned around just in time to block a kick to his stomach. The impact was strong enough to have blasted him off of the ground, he gritted his teeth when his back smashed against a tree trunk, splitting the wood into pieces.
"Yuuto!" Koneko freaked out seeing him get thrown so far away with a single move. "Yo- you..." She was speechless, pointing her finger at the other Kuroka injured by the attack.
Both members of Rias' peerage watched as the person they expected to be an injured Kuroka disappeared into a blue mist, the original casually standing next to her sister with an amused face.
"Youjutsu and illusion magic really are fun to mess around with~!" She said with a small laugh, showing the slightest signs of any sort of wound or exhaustion. She gazed at Kiba who stubbornly stood back up, holding his Sacred Gear with both hands and a determined face. "So, little Knight. Are you ready to die? You can't beat me, you couldn't even beat Kokabiel from what I heard!"
"That is true, I'm not a big enough fool to underestimate your powers to such an extent. From the beginning I never had any delusion of beating you." He said with a smirk that didn't sit well with Kuroka. She got on her guards, he looked at her with confidence of his victory. How? She could not tell. Combat wise she was superior, faster, stronger in every way shape and form. "Too bad for you, I'm not alone."
There was a piece of paper held between his palm and the sword. She had missed this small detail previously due to his sudden arrival.
"Hm?" It took a second for Kuroka to realise that it wasn't just a paper, but a flyer that resembled the Gremory summoning circle they used to share their services to the people in Kuoh. She had seen them a couple of times when visiting the place in her cat form. But this one was different, black and holding a different pattern compared to the Gremory one — one that resembled the head of a snake-like dragon with three eyes. Realisation dawned on her face, "You sneaky little Knig—!"
"[Restrict!]"
In a scene similar to the past, hundreds of black tendrils emerged from the ground with the intent to bind her. Unwilling to fall for the same trap, Kuroka leaped once again into the air — but he had anticipated that, the Knight was already blocking her path with the Sword of the Destroyer slashing straight downwards.
Bang!
"Oof!" She used her Senjutsu reinforced arms to block the attack successfully. The green energy dulled but it didn't break, though that was not what Kiba aimed for. The force of his strike pushed Kuroka straight back to the ground with a small crater forming.
"NYA!" The hundreds of tendrils bound her hands, legs waist and even head. She tried to use her enhanced strength but found out that these things had gotten more tougher than what she remembered!
A hand came to rest upon Koneko's head, gently ruffling her hair in a comforting manner, as the white hair young woman seemed to relax just a bit.
"Making your little sister cry like this, for shame."
{Break}
-Hachiman PoV-
There were many thoughts roaming my mind about what happened with my visit to Sona's house, so much I wanted to ask and question the girl. It came out of nowhere and I didn't know how to react to it.
Nevertheless, all of that would be looked over later. Right now, all my attention was on Koneko's face…
She was crying.
A sight I never wanted to see again, reminding of my past idiot self who went and nearly got killed by the events in Paris. I wasn't the one who caused her face to tear up this time, yet I still felt responsible. Wasn't it the responsibility of an older brother or sister to make sure something like this would never happen to their siblings? Yet here I was, witnessing such a scene where one side was making the other suffer when it shouldn't have ever happened in the first place.
"We meet again, Kuroka." I spoke to the girl, having lost all desire to wait and patience with her at this moment. "Why are you here?"
"She's trying to kidnap Koneko!" Kiba who stood by my side mentioned, giving him a basic rundown of what happened the entire time I wasn't here. The more I listened the more I chided myself for letting this continue for so long.
If things were to persist any longer than this, then even if Kuroka were to lost her criminal status would not help into mending their relationship any longer.
I sighed, giving her a disappointed look which she didn't appreciate.
"Don't think you understand me."
Understand? I already did. There was no need to put up an act or even lie about my intentions. "You know what? You're right, I just can't and won't ever understand you, Kuroka. I gave your the opportunity to talk to Koneko without needing to do all of this, now she hates you even more than before."
"Don't care, nya! She'll understand the effort and sacrifice her big sister has done for her!"
Right, sacrifice was an apt word as she didn't lose a lot just for Koneko's sake. Nevertheless, I stopped caring about Kuroka's personal feelings already. She failed to understand Koneko and I would do the same.
"I had a change of mind, you're now staying here with us, whether you like it or not is none of my issue." I spoke assertively, throwing my initial desire to wait for Sirzechs to bring me good news about the Kuroka case to abolish the charges and using that to lure her back in — now she would stay here either she liked it or not and I would not hesitate to use force to drag the Nekoshou kicking and screaming. "You're not going anywhere."
"Hehehe, you're funny, nya~♪ Did you forget what happened last time? I'll just—"
Before she could use her powers to bend space, I acted quickly.
"[Delete Field!]"
"[Absorb!]"
I flinched at the inclusion of the Senjutsu energy flowing within my body. It was completely different from anything I had felt so far, so foreign and dangerous which forced me to stop from absorbing anymore. Fortunately, it didn't linger for any longer than a second before disappearing. As expected, I couldn't cheat the system that much for learning this technique by taking it from someone else.
"Kiba!"
"Got it!"
"Hn!" Kuroka shook, feeling the effects of both our Sacred Gears weakening her powers. Doubts remained whether this was even enough in the first place, though all of this was just to make sure she wouldn't escape and not about defeating her. "Eh… looks like I'm in trouble. Didn't expect we'd meet again so soon, Black Dragon King." She said jokingly, exerting more strength that began stretching the tentacles. Though they remained strong for now, it didn't mean that she wouldn't be able to break them soon or later.
"And here I was thinking you wouldn't stoop so low as to make your own sister cry and threaten to kill her friends. You act like a victim, which you are in some sense, but now play the role of the villains themselves. What is the difference between you and the Naberius king? You both pushed someone to a corner and made them take desperate measures out of despair, well… you nearly did that with Koneko if Kiba weren't here."
"...Shut up"
"You may not trust Rias and the rest, I understand that — but at least trust your sister. You can't just overlook her happiness just because of your own bias. The tragedy you've experienced will not happen to her, I'll make sure of it."
Kuroka laughed, "What difference would it make if it was you? You're cute but I don't want to take any risks." Veins covered her arm as more strength was used to try and free herself, one of the tendrils snapped. "She's safer with me, away from all of these Devil games and pit of snakes."
She truly lived up to her reputation. Very few managed to break free from my Sacred Restraints with pure strength alone with the help of a weapon. Those who did were no less than absolute monsters.
"Too bad for you, I'm done waiting and will force you two back together without all this unnecessary drama and theatre play. Can you knock her out for me?" I asked the entity following me the entire time, she stayed hidden for the most part so others wouldn't know her presence.
"She's here!" As expected, Kuroka noticed her presence and grew worried. Though there was nothing she could do as a small crash in the space above her head appeared. A small pale danty hand emerged and touched the Nekoshou's head and pushed a bit of her energy.
Her tail and hair stood up like a scared cat.
"Sleep."
With a single command, Ophis managed to instantly send an Ultimate Class being into a deep slumber.
"Well that's done…" I held her body while dismissing my Sacred Gear. She was surprisingly light, unnaturally so. Her choice of clothing did make the action of peeking inside very easy, not that I did it. "Thanks again for your help." I said to Ophis who disappeared once again, I told her to stay hidden as much as possible whenever there were many people around me as their would be less people to recognize her.
"Hachiman… senpai?" Koneko looked up to me then Kuroka. "I-I-I'm sorry… I d-didn't want her to hurt y—"
"It's okay. Why are you even apologising in the first place? I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness by keeping the fact that I talked with her earlier a secret. I wanted to bring this topic up at some point but didn't know how to do it."
She went silent.
"Are you planning to hand her over?" Kiba asked, pocketing the flyer I gave him long ago, back when Issei went on a date with Raynare. I was surprised that he still kept it with him.
"No, I'll keep her in my room and have others watch over her. I want to show Kuroka that we're not her enemies and that she doesn't need to go this far to be with Koneko. Sirzechs and Serafall have agreed to help me with her situation, if all things proceed smoothly then her status as a criminal will be removed."
Koneko's head snapped towards me in shock.
"R-Removed!?"
Oh right, she didn't know about the details about the Naberius incident. I cursed my past self once again for procrastinating so much, I should have talked with her the same day!
"Alright, let's go to my room first, I have a lot to tell you."
We walked out of the garden and went straight to my room, the maids didn't bother or even question me about the woman I was holding in my arms. Xenovia and Irina were training with Kiba's teacher, Okita, as in the former captain of the Shisengumi. Crazy right! Anyway, Rias was called by her mother and father to discuss some private matters. Akeno was spending some one on one time with her mother, Shuri apparently had some important work for her daughter before she left back to Kuoh.
Basically everyone was busy today.
I gently dropped Kuroka on the bed, she looked so innocent and peaceful in her sleep that it was hard to imagine her identity as a dangerous soon-to-be former SS class criminal and a Nekoshou who could rip my face apart. "Can you keep watch over her?" I asked Kiba who nodded at my request.
Both Koneko and I headed for somewhere more private. On the way my phone's notification rang, checking to see who it was, I found a couple of messages Kalawarna sent me with a few attached images.
Curious, I opened the first attachment.
"—!"
And I immediately regretted that.
The first image was of her posing in front of a mirror wearing little to no clothing. This woman was quite bold sending things like this just to tease me. 'Do I look good, Hachi~?' was the message attached to it with a kissy emoji.
My response was quick and direct.
'Put on some clothes, you pervert.'
I swiped to see the second image which further gave me a headache. No, it wasn't a picture of her naked, rather a secret photo she took of Raynare trying out some underwear in a changing room. That bitch wasn't aware of her presence somehow.
'Her taste for black lacy underwear hasn't changed.'
Kala wrote below.
I ignored it.
The third and final image was actually something that made me laugh a bit. It seemed like Raynare spotted her sneaky friend and her intentions of sending me her nude pics and was now chasing Kalawarna down with a red light spear. In the background some of the Fallen Angels staff were trying their best to hold her down but were obviously struggling given she was a six winged powerhouse.
"Pervert."
"Ah!" I jolted from the pain of having my waist pinched by an angry Rook. "K-Koneko?"
"You were watching something lewd." She stated.
"A-Ah, it isn't my fault! Kala just sent me weird pictures." I tried to defend myself but the girl wasn't having it. It didn't help my case that I didn't delete the photos, and had instead save them. That stare made me want to cry, like a little sister judging her brother as a degenerated pervert.
"...Did you like them?"
"..."
"Ero-Hachi."
Koneko words struck deeper than any sword.
{Break}
"So… what did you want to tell me?" On the balcony, she asked me while nervously looking back at the room where Kuroka was sleeping.
I sighed again, taking some time to organise my thoughts in order to clearly give her all the details without any misunderstandings. And so, I started telling her everything I knew, my suspicions, my doubts, Sirzechs findings with the Naberius clan and even my plans to clear her sister's name.
I told her everything.
"..."
In the end, she started crying, tears streaming down her face as her legs gave up and she nearly fell on the floor if I hadn't caught her. She hugged me while I patted her back, the girl went through a lot and I promised to be there whenever she needed me.
'Haa… I berated Kuroka for making her sister cry yet here I am having done the same. I really am the worst.'
I only hoped the Maous managed to convince Zekram. If they failed, then I was willing to take matters into my own hands, no matter how foolish that thought was.
I was tired of waiting.
These two didn't deserve to suffer any longer.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.