"Beast Tamer?" Minato asked as the large dogs that enthusiastically greeted yesterday laid down on the grass besides them in the park.

Kiyome nodded as she sat beside Minato on a park bench "Yes, pretty self explanatory. A Beast Tamer helps other beings attain new strength in a mutually beneficial relationship, helping them attain new skills while keeping the Tamer safe" Kiyome turned to Minato and meeting his gaze knew what he was going to ask "While not exact, yes, it's like that franchise"

"How do you train them?"

Minato grew more curious as he talked to Kiyome, while he did indeed have an idea of how many monsters acted he never gave it much thought about how to train them. Still, there was a strong desire to learn how to train monsters to make them more effective, he couldn't quite place the reason why. Almost as if Beast Taming was something Minato would have been involved with in another life.

Kiyome turned to the dogs to see them rolling around in the grass, she smiled as she turned back to Minato "It can be challenging, you need to have a firm grasp of each individual to make sure they get the most out of training. Can't teach a lamia to play tennis the same way as a harpy"

Minato blinked, caught off guard by Kiyome's answer "That's a very specific sport to mention"

Kiyome smiled, knowing Minato was curious.

The following day Minato found himself at a tennis court wearing the Kuoh Academy tracksuit watching several different monsters playing against each other in tennis, each monster using their own advantages to overcome their weaknesses in the sport whether its with a lamia using their more bendable bodies or harpies using their flight while holding the racket with their talons.

"This is very impressive, I've never seen anything like it before" Minato said, his astonishment clear in his voice. Tennis required a great deal of effort to be good at like any other sport, but getting to the skill he was seeing now for a sport that wasn't designed with their different physiologies in mind spoke volumes of Kiyome skills as a Tamer and her monsters.

Kiyome allowed herself to smile with pride, unlike Minato she wore the more official white shirt and skirt for tennis, her eyes roaming over the current players to make sure they were alright "Thank you, not a lot of other Tamers teach their charges how to play sports but seeing all the effort they've all put in makes the long hours of training worth it"

After all the friendly matches were over all of Kiyome's monsters took several minutes to rest, everyone getting the chance to sit down to have a snack, as they did Minato and Kiyome continued talking until Minato brought up a topic he's been meaning to ask for a while.

"What are your methods exactly?"

"Trade secret, I'm afraid. I can't tell you" Kiyome said as she took a drink from her water bottle, as she did she gave Minato a side glance as something flashed across her eyes "Unless"

"Unless?" Minato raised an eyebrow, waiting for Kiyome to continue.

"Tell me, Minato. Would you say you have somewhat a grasp of what each individual monster of mine can do?" receiving a nod Kiyome stood with a smile, crossing her arms under her chest as she did so "Then what say you to a little test, pick out a team of three monsters here to face against a team of my own. If your team wins, or at least draws, against mine I'll take you on as my apprentice to teach you my secrets"

"And if I lose?" Minato asked, his eyes drifting over Kiyome's various monsters who were all looking at them overhearing Kiyome's words.

Kiyome placed a finger against her chin before a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes "If you lose, you have to dress as a maid and serve me for a day. Since this is your first time I'll pick my team first to give you a chance to counter it.

"Deal" Minato said resolutely as he stood up "I don't know why, but I have the oddest feeling of déjà vu when you were talking about being a Beast Tamer. Almost as if I was something similar in another life. As for the maid part" Minato shrugged "I already work in a maid outfit, at the odd time, at work"

Blinking in confusion, Kiyome took a step back in shock "Wait, you're forced to wear a maid outfit at work?"

"Not forced" Minato scratched his chin in embarrassment "I just have trouble saying no to the owners, that and I can pull the look off pretty well along with getting triple pay for the shifts I wear it"

Kiyome looked at Minato head to toe with an unreadable expression "I brought up the whole maid thing as something to motivate you with, but now I'm genuinely curious how'd you look in one"

"You could stop by Gentle Etiquette every once and awhile, I don't wear it often but I haven't gone two weeks without putting on a maid outfit" Minato suggested to his possible mentor, if for nothing else it'd help get more business for the cafe.

"Oh, I haven't been there in ages" Kiyome lit up at the mention of the cafe "Though, I suppose we can talk about it later after you defeat my team. Are you ready?"

With a nod the two picked out with Kiyome going first, however while her selection came over to her without a moment's hesitation those Minato picked were more reluctant.

Unprovoked, Minato began negotiating his picks.

A couple of minutes later, as the best of three tennis matches began, Kiyome gave Minato a blank look "You bribed them with coupons"

Minato turned to Kiyome with a blank expression of his own "I only bribed the yeti with 3.000 yen worth of coupons, the Hellhound I showed dominance with ear scratches and belly rubs while I only talked to the harpy"

"She's literally ready to adopt you as part of her family. Minato" Kiyome turned back to the tennis match with a smile on her face "You are a natural, I'll be sure to treat you well my student. How about we stop by Gentle Etiquette tomorrow to celebrate?"

"Tomorrow doesn't really work for me, I'm going to look for a new apartment tomorrow and one of them is near the mountains" Minato answered, he came across the listing for the apartment to rent last week and planned the visit soon after. It was a bit out of the way but due to a mixture of bad luck finding other apartments and the cheap price it was his best option so far.

"Really? Where would it be if you don't mind me asking?" Kiyome asked, curious.

Minato answered her, Kiyome furrowed her brows in concern.

'I've heard that place is cursed, while I haven't heard anything beyond the odd rumor it's better to be safe than sorry'

Kiyome's words passed through Minato's mind as he looked at the address listed for the apartment to rent, the building seemed to be an old estate with an additional floor added onto it with some attempt made to make the whole place look aesthetically consistent.

"You're not going to move here," Ophis said as she looked over the building, frowning slightly at the ugly walls of the building. She went with Minato to all the apartments he had visited thus far, with minimal difficulties in the process, she still needed to keep a close eye on him to ensure his loyalty and that meant moving with him.

That, and she had grown used to Minato making her breakfast.

"No. I'm going to check this place to make sure nothing fishy is happening here, what happens afterwards depends on what I find" with those words Minato approached the building and rang the doorbell, Ophis followed after looking up to one of the higher levels to see a shadow person standing at a window.

The front door was opened by an old man with long grey hair reaching his shoulders and a long beard reaching his stomach, he looked at Minato with a blank look as he pulled on the suit jacket too large for him.

"Ah, you must be the young man here to see the room" he looked down to see Ophis, his expression unchanging beyond a slight twitch in his left eye "I see you brought a little friend with you, come along we don't have all day"

The old man stepped further inside giving Minato a chance to follow him inside, the house looked like it had gone under some renovation in the last few years

"Here is the main lounge, it's communal so feel free to have any guests wait here and not wander the residents. I'll show you the kitchen over here"

"Sir, there is something I need to ask right away" Minato asked as he stood in the hallway. The old man turned around and gave Minato a nod to continue "What of the human spirits here?"

The man's eyes widen slightly, just about maintaining his composure "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"The spirits of the deceased that linger here, what do you know of them?" Minato looked over to the nearby stairs and kept his eyes locked on it "And how do they haunt this place?"

"I can assure you young man, there are no spirits lingering in this home" The old man said defensively, his eyes quickly looked over to Ophis for a moment before turning his gaze back to Minato with an aggressive look and a plan forming in his mind.

Without uttering a word Minato let out a deep breath, as he did the air seemed to become noticeably heavier as a figure began to take shape at the stairs.

A woman wearing a white suit stained red with blood stood on the stairs, her features sunken as black voids where her eyes should have been looked towards Minato with blackened tears streaking down her cheeks.

"You, you aren't being held here on your own" the ghoulish specter lunged towards Minato, long bony hands reaching out to him but never reaching him as an unseen force kept the spirit in place "No. Instead of something internal, an external force chains you here"

Lifting his palm to the spirit light begins to spread across it's being as Minato touches it's forehead, the spirit thrashed about to resist but in the end welcomed the light.

The spirit before them now changed, appearing more as it had in life then in it's death. The woman's spirit offered Minato a smile as she closed her tired eyes, she faded from view just as quickly as she appeared.

"What, what did you do?"

"I freed a soul chained here by a malevolent force" Minato answered, his voice gaining a slight edge to it as he turned to the old man once more "Now, what do you know of the malevolent force here?"

"She's not malevolent. She's in pain and" The man spoke quickly before his words were cut off as the entire building began to shake as an inhuman scream could be heard, neither Mianto nor Ophis were faze in the slightest as Minato stepped closer to Ophis releasing a pulse of power to repel the power of the house from touching them.

"I don't know what you are; but, as a dear friend of mine would say, let's skip to the main event"

With those words the house twists and warps into a nightmarish mockery of what it was before, large holes dotted the walls and floor as blood dripped from the walls and pooled on the ground like water.

"What are you planning?" Ophis asked Minato, turning to face him fully "You can exorcist everything in one moment, so why?"

Minato nodded "While it would be easy, it doesn't mean it's the best path. There's no guarantee that all that spirits trapped by this curse would be freed if I did what amounts to exorcism nuking" bending down he gestured for Ophis to climb onto his back. Ophis gave Minato a confused look (?) "I'd feel more at ease if we kept together, chances are this place would try to split us up" accepting his reason Ophis climbed up and wrapped her arms around Minato's neck and her legs around his torso. Minato used his left arm to help steady Ophis before the two journeyed further into the curse house.

As they made their way further in they came across spirits trapped with some still living elsewhere in the world, among the trapped souls there were many chained together to form malicious monsters that could have been outright destroyed had Minato began blasting holy power along with the trapped souls. To avoid causing harm to the innocent Minato used a sword of light to cut away the bindings trapping the souls.

Eventually they find the old man again, standing between them and a terrified woman behind him. The old man spoke about protecting his wife as he held a gun towards Minato, Minato for his part focused on the thing behind the old man.

With a frown Minato drew upon Angel's power and fired several swords of light passed by the old man, as they flew the spirit of the man's wife slumped forward with her crying abruptly stopping. Looking upward Minato gave the source of the curse a glare.

"Get out here. No more using others as puppets"

The world itself seemed to shudder as cracks formed in the air that lead to a shadowy void, from the void a monster made from the fusion of animals and plants slithered out.

It gave one last defiant cry before meeting a swift end.

Once the monster was gone the house returned to normal, Ophis still on Minato's back as the old man held the specter of his wife.

Minato kept silent as the man held his wife, her smiling gently to him as she said they were the foul entity that had possessed her. Giving thanks she gave her husband a kiss before fading away.

It took awhile for the old man to calm down and explain his situation, quickly becoming clear that the creature that used his wife's ghost as a puppet used him to draw in more innocent people to feed it. After a while of talking and gaining help from some of the newly freed spirits Minato was able to convince the man he was a victim in all of this as well, and that he could atone and try to find peace in his life before his own time came.

From the moment they arrived to them leaving it only took an hour and a half to deal with the situation, with the curse and monster only taking a little over thirty minutes and hour spent helping the old man get back on his feet.

Walking down the dirt path that led to the house Minato took his mobile phone out of his pocket to call a taxi, before he dialed Minato angled his head to get a look at Ophis who was still riding him.

"You know you can get down now"

"I know. I don't want to"

Minato paused for a moment as he thought the situation over for a moment, looking down the road to Kuoh Town and doing a small math in his head he held out his phone.

"If I call a taxi you will need to get off, or would you prefer I carry you back on foot" Minato angled his head so he could look at Ophis "I don't mind either option, so pick what you want"

Ophis ended up deciding to take the taxi back, though she didn't move until it had arrived, they arrived back at Gentle Etiquette sooner than anyone had expected. Minato and Ophis gave similar responses to what they had about the other places Minato had checked out, with the only real difference that Ophis mentioned that Minato helped the old man with some personal problems.

The following day Minato checked in with Kiyome.

Kiyome looked at Minato with a shocked expression "You did what?!"

"I exorcised a malevolent spirit from the house" Minato answered as he held his tennis racket at his side, using his free arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead using the sleeve of his tracksuit.

Kiyome began the next part of his training to become a Beast Tamer by giving him several books and told to research several monsters, research and information gathering being a cornerstone for all Beast Tamers. Not wanting to leave Minato with a short lesson, Kiyome offered to train Minato in tennis as a bonding exercise between Master and Student, and if she got a new member for the tennis club then that was merely a nice bonus.

Kiyome frowned "Minato, while I'll admit everything turned out well you should have left the house and told me" she crossed her arms "Do you have any idea how dangerous it can be going up against a spirit that claims land as it's domain alone?"

Walking over to Minato Kiyome looked him up and down with a stern eye before lightly grabbing his face and having him keep eye contact with her.

"Still, it looks like you're fine. No curse I can detect nor anything possessing you, still" Kiyome nodded to herself with her eyes closed "Right, I'll check the house out myself. If the place is clean it'll clear my conscience and if not we can finish the job" Kiyome opened her eyes as a thought crossed her mind "Wait, was there anyone else with you at that house?"

Minato looked to the side to see several of Kiyome's monsters gathered around one figure. "Phis was with me. Though if the malevolent force somehow survived you'd think it would latch onto the old man"

Kiyome looked to Ophis as she interacted with the monsters, mostly riding the bigger ones, Kiyome nodded "Right, the girl with dragon eyes. I doubt it would have latched onto her, even if she's extremely weak with no noticeable power dragon's and dragon hybrids usually have a resistance to possession" she gave Minato a curious side glance "Though, why did you bring Phis with you?"

Minatro shrugged "She wanted to come, I couldn't really stop her"

With a hum Kiyome turned back to look at Ophis, who was riding with the headless horseman "So it's safe to assume she wanted to see you train" Minato nodded "She'll need to come with us then, let's grab a quick snack before we head off. If we're quick we'll be able to get something from Gentle Etiquette afterwords"

As they went off to get changed into their regular clothes Minato saw a message on his phone from Satou, the message she sent caused him to raise an eyebrow.

"There's an old man with a lawyer waiting for you at the cafe senpai, the old man is saying you helped him with something and wants to repay you. Do you know who they are?"

After some texting it didn't take long for Minato to learn the old man was the same from the haunted house, letting Satou know the man was harmless as far as he knew, Minato went over to see what the old man wanted.

Out of everything he could think of, what the old man wanted was something Minato never thought of.

Kiyome looked around the interior of the formerly haunted house with an appreciating eye, Mr and Mrs Nakajima looked around commenting on the house and comparing it to one of their seasonal homes.

Minato looked down at the deed to the house and the paperwork that made him the new owner. The old man couldn't live here anymore after everything that happened and couldn't just let anyone move in without fear of history repeating itself, nor did he have the heart to abandon it either. In the end, he reasoned it made the most sense to give the house to someone who could handle it if history did in fact repeat.

"Kiyome"

"Hmm?"

"I really need to say no more"

It didn't take long to move things into Minato's new house due to him not having much to move and the house being fully furnished, meaning the next night Minato was fully moved into his new house. He stayed up all night to make sure nothing happened with Kiyome and Ophis sleeping in another room with Satou, over all everything seemed to be going well until he sensed something in the woods.

Minato left to begin his search of the devils he sensed, specifically two with one noticeably stronger then the other. Enhancing his speed with a Persona made the journey a quick one and as he found the two devils, looking between them made the stark contrast between the two hard not to notice.

One seemed humanoid curled up into a ball with a large more beastial creature repeatedly kicking them, hurling belittling remarks as they did so.

However, it wasn't just their appearances that were in stark contrast to one another but also the feeling they gave off. While the beast felt like a full devil the one on the ground wasn't entirely a devil, seemingly a mix between a demon and yokai like Koneko.

"Huh, who's there!?" The beastial demon turned away from their helpless target and turned to Minato, it's eyes glinting as it saw him. Malicious intent coming off in waves.

Minato outstretched his hand, drawing upon Yamata no Orochi's power to summon the two handed sword Kusanagi.

The beast charged, it never reached Minato as before evening reaching the halfway point razor sharp winds from the Kusanagi dismembered it. Minato kept an eye on the creature before moving over to examine the yokai demon hybrid curled on the ground.

"Please. Make it quick. I can't live like this anymore" the devil yokai whimpered, causing Minato to pause as he looked closer at it. As he did so something strange occurred.

He could see the entirety of the demon yokai, mind, body and soul. Allowing him to see there was something inside it turning the yokai into a demon. Acting on instinct Minato reached out to the suffering yokai before a flash of light washed over them both, when it faded the yokai was restored as Minato held five pawn chess pieces in his hand.

"Wha-what did you do?" the yokai asked with a confused stutter, sitting up to give Minato a chance to see the young boy's face.

Minato looked up from the pawns in his hand to the confused Nurarihyon, all he could offer him at the moment was his own thoughts.

"I don't know"

Author's Note:

A little something with Minato becoming Kiyome's apprentice in Beast Taming, a bit of a nod towards the origins of Persona as a spin off of Megami Tensei, and Minato and Ophis going on a little adventure. Could they have finished the whole thing off in under a minute? Easily. But Minato wanted to save everyone he could and Ophis it as a chance to observe Minato work up close.

Next Chapter will deal with the arranged marriage event with Rias and start something I have plans for.

Omake: Apartment Hunting

Had trouble putting together this Omake so this is the basic of what happens.

Kiyome talks to Minato about the other places he's searched for apartments.

The First place would be home to the titular character of Gabriel Dropout, a second one putting him close to characters from Jashin-chan Dropkick/Dropkick on my devil, the third would put him in the same building from Ms Kobayashi Dragon Maid (Minato turning the place down due to price and Ophis solo wrestling the dragons and winning with having Tohru pinned to the ground)

The last place would be Satou's former building where her aunt lives, that particular appointment was cancelled due to a sudden and unexplained fire.

EDIT: 24/07/2020

Okay, since I'm seeing some confusions in the reviews let me make this clear.

The Yokai at the end of this chapter is NOT Kuroka, rather it's a MALE Yokai OC known as a Nurarihyon. His situation is going to get more detail in the next chapter as it will continue directly from where this one left off.

Sorry to the Kuroka fans but your neko waifu is not making an appearance. Yet.