Chapter 20 - Meeting the gang and Determination

Now, here I was, waiting for the gang to all show up, Rias had called Akeno who would gather everyone while I called Valerie. Ten minutes later and she was the one to pop up, the other would probably arrive a bit later since they gathered together.

"So, you told her" said Valerie.

"Yes he did, thank you for doing it now"

"Aww, no problem Rias"

"By the way, Valerie, are you sure about me and Hiro trying to…?"

"Am I sure about you and Hiro trying to get together?" Rias nodded here "Hell yeah, and I'd imagine we would not be the only ones"

"Are you saying there's going to be more?" responded Rias with her eyes widening a bit.

"Yeah, you can't keep a piece like him with only so few women" spoke Val nonchalantly.

I just sat there and didn't intervene in their talk, there's a place for a man to discuss and this one certainly wasn't it.

"Mhm, I see" said Rias with a calculative nod "Let's wait for the rest, they should be here soon.

Not even 5 minutes later, the rest of the gang showed up. In came Akeno with Kiba and Koneko.

"Fufufu, Rias, already in an impromptu rendezvous?" the person speaking needed no introduction.

"S-stop it, Akeno" blushed Rias.

'My god, no wonder she is the Crimson Princess, she blushes up a storm constantly, she cute tho' I laughed in my mind while looking at Rias.

"Fiiine, what happened, why have we gathered around?"

"Well, first of all I'd like to introduce Hiro and Valerie to Kiba and Koneko." Then she turned to us "Hiro, Valerie, these are Kiba Yuuto and Koneko Toujou, my peerage members"

"W-wait a minute Rias, you told them about the supernatural, I mean you told me you liked and even I-" started Akeno like a machine gun to the point she even stopped making sense but Rias cit her off.

"Akeno, stop! They knew already"

"They knew?"

"Let me continue from here, Rias" I intervened "Hello, Kiba-san, Koneko-san, my name is Hiro, the impossible creature, and this is Valerie, she's a dhampir" then both I and Val chorus "Nice to meet you"x2

"Nice to meet you" says the asexual Knight as he goes I for a handshake. 'Man, Kiba was always weird, I mean I known you got yo personal issues bro, but still, being surrounded by such beauties and nothing, nothing?!' I knew she got with that Tosca chick later but dayum'

"Un" impassively says the chibi kitty mascot with a simple nod.

"Don't mind Koneko, she's always like that"

"Ooh we don't mind at all, she's so cuuuute" chippers Valerie and looks at Koneko with stars in her eyes.

"Calm down Valerie, stay" I had to hold the hyper dhampir down, earning me a thankful nod from the young neko.

"Mouuu" Val finally relents, crestfallen.

Then, Akeno decides to put the discussion back on track.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by 'impossible creature'?"

'Here we go again…' I mentally sigh 'I should just record myself telling my life's story and play it back whenever people ask'

"Okay, here goes, I woke up about…" so here I go, explaining everything, again.

"...and that's how we got here" damn, my throat was dry.

Rias seemed to notice this and asked Akeno to make everyone some tea, and let me tell you, she made some damn good tea.

After explanation 2 boogaloo was done, we all sat around and chatted, well, all minus Koneko who was silently munching on some cookies.

"So what are your plans in Kuoh?" asked Akeno after a while.

"Hmm, nothing certain for now, train, relax, the good stuff"

"Fuu, and chase after pretty girls~" she winked seductively.

"Ohh, are you a pretty girl ready for the big bad monster?"

"~I might be~"

"Okay, okay, let's discuss this later, we need to meet Sona, I texted her and she is available, she'll be around in 10 minutes" quickly intervened Rias with a cute pout, trying to protect her territory.

"O, someone is jealooous" que the Rias' glare "Fiiine" and Akeno relented, for now.

Sona arrived sometime later with Tsubaki and was surprised seeing everyone together, she raised an eyebrow and I sighed 'Here we go again'.

One tedious explanation later and here we were, me with an amused expression while Sona was massaging her temples.

"So, let me get this straight, you're a dhampir" looks at Valerie who nods "and you're… whatever you are" she looks at the mighty me who just shrugs and smiles.

*sigh* "We're going to have to tell this to my sister and your brother Rias. Are you ok with it, Hiro-san?"

"No problem here"

"Do we reaaaaally have to?" pouts the redhead.

"Yes, we do"

"Don't worry Rias" I comfort her "at worst, he'll just try to erase me, hehe"

"Nooooo" shouts Rias and hugs me, surprising the Sitri duo with our closeness, Sona looked intrigued at the scene and my mention of the word 'try'.

"Believe me Rias, I wouldn't do it because 'she' might come and check on things" at the word 'she' Sona trembles a bit.

"Anyway" I decide to end things here for I have talked way too much for a day and, frankly, it was enough for me "I have to go and run an errand, I'll see you later everyone, Val, I'll see you at home" then I promptly left, I was done talking, only thinking for me for the rest of the day.

"Ara ara ~ the conjugal life, please tell more…" were the last words I heard before exiting the ORC.

I soon arrived back home and went to my study in order to lay out some plans and finalize others. Since I came back home to Kuoh, I've been planning the house's defenses, I wanted them to be top of the line, enough to stop a sisconium empowered Sirzechs. It would be a challenge but one that I gracefully accepted.

So I constructed: wards, stacks on stacks on stacks; emergency teleportation, warning arrays, confusion inducing traps, and, finally, something I liked to call ' the quantum-fucker' the defense where the intruder would get trapped in a multitude of disjointed teleportation anchors. In this state, parts of their bodies existed in separate locations at the same time and, if they tried to free themselves, they would arrive in pieces. The only hang-up was that someone powerful enough, with enough magic at their disposal, could resist this effect and eventually free themselves, keyword being 'eventually' with them being very vulnerable during their entrapment. There were also magical constructs hidden on the property whose purpose was to spy and report everything to me.

These traps were enough for the current inhabitants of the mansion, Valerie could easily handle everyone under the Ultimate Devil class and she could hold her own with those on the upper limits of it.

While I? I could easily handle those in Ultimate Class, Supers and other such beings were the only things that would provide a challenge for me, especially with the results of the last 2 years of training.

Finishing my plans, I set out to think about how I would deal with Riser, the first challenge of canon. 'Should I leave him to Rias?' was the question on my mind but I also wanted to fight him and take the idiot down a peg or two. I would train Rias and her peerage regardless of my choice but beating him myself would garner me some prestige and an opening into the devil scene. 'It might also draw out my 'family' and make them come after me, something that I would definitely enjoy'.

Decisions, decisions but I could handle them later, making a training plan for the peerage was the priority, so I did set out to create something for each member of the peerage and for Rias herself.

'I'll just give them the plan for training, I will not hold their hand while they do so, I simply refuse' was the dominant thought with regards to this particular topic.

That day ended with nothing out of the usual happening. Valerie came by later and told me that Rias agreed to have her meet with Gasper next Friday, so that was good news.

Fast forward a couple of days and I found myself alone with Rias in my home, watching some anime. I decided that this was a good time to mention the training.

"Hey, cutie" I told the redhead in my arms in an attempt to draw her attention away from the TV.

"Yes?" she answered while slightly blushing. My God, this girl was vulnerable to compliments big time.

"I think you should start training both yourself and the peerage for the inevitable fight with Riser, also, you should tell them about it, I know Akeno knows but the rest don't"

"But why, I still have 4 years until the end of college"

"Rias, you never know when things start to change or if something else will pop up. Who knows, they might even insist on shortening the timeline"

"Why would they do that?"

"Well, from what you've told me, you have to marry him after you finish college but the agreement didn't mention anything about you being engaged or having other sorts of ceremony before, right?" I told her, hinting at how things would develop.

"Oh, I never thought about things that way" *sigh* "I know we should train more but…"

"But?"

"When I came to the human world, I came here with the goal of exploring, of seeing the cities, of living my life while I was still young. I wanted to escape my fate of being the Heiress"

"But you can't escape it Rias. I agree in not wanting to be defined by a title but you also need to hold some responsibility towards it"

"I know… I also want for my peerage to have fun and live their lives as free of worry as possible. I haven't told you how I met them and I won't. It's their story to tell but they weren't in a good state when I found them. I just…I just want all of us to be happy" she finished her reasoning while tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.

I sighed and looked at this beautiful girl who was just a teenager wanting to rebel and live her own life before responsibility claimed her. I gently enveloped her in a hug and let her calm down.

*sniff sniff* "Thanks, Hiro"

"Always"

"What should I do?" it was a big step for her in asking me for advice, it meant that she was opening up to me more and more.

"I still think you should tell them" she looked like she wanted to interrupt but I stopped her "Before you say anything, listen to me, ok?" *nod* "I understand that you want them to be happy, I also want both you and Val to be always happy, no matter what. In wanting this I understood something, and that something is that, without strength, happiness is just morning snow waiting for the spring sun. It will disappear, it is inevitable for it to do so. You never know when someone or something will come and crush it"

I take a deep breath, letting her take everything in, then I continue.

"I've been training with 2 goals in my mind, one being the gathering and expansion of knowledge and the other being the guarantee that I will live however I want, that is my happiness. I've been training Valerie since our first day together so that I know she will always be safe and that if some fucker gets the wrong idea he'll end up with his or her head missing. With this, I'm free and assured of doing whatever and letting her do her thing without worrying constantly about her"

I let her think over this for a bit.

"Point is Rias. You need to tell them and train them because it will, in the end, allow them to live happy lives. It will also allow you to be with whoever you want" and so, I ended my monologue.

Rias just looks to be in deep thought for a while. I didn't know what went through her mind at that particular moment, I just waited.

Suddenly, as if deciding everything, she looks at me with eyes full of determination.

Before I could ask her anything she grabbed my head and went in for a deep kiss, our first. It lasted for more than five minutes, only pausing for when she needed to breathe.

Finally, she looked me in the eyes.

"I'll do it, thank you, dear ~"

"You never need to say that word to me"

So ended our second little heart-to-heart and we spent the rest of the day in each other's embrace because from tomorrow we would start getting serious.

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A/N

Hope you like the latest chappie, filled with DETERMINATION.

Come back next time where Rias' peerage will have a meeting with reality and strength via Hiro and Val's fists.

See you next time.