AN: Two years of stalling, here I go! Phoenix Down used. Enjoy the Story.

Highschool Hitoshura

Chapter 1:

The Arrival

The universe is a very vast and strange thing. Not one single human or maybe even an otherworldly being could fully grasp the reason behind everything about "Creation". What governed the world? Was it Fate or perhaps Chance… or maybe an even greater unknown force of the universe? Strange and unexplainable things tended to happen once in a while.

And Naoki Kashima was just about sick of it all. He could hardly comprehend the situation he was in right now. After everything he had been though…

He was just a regular teenage boy, living in Japan, Tokyo, attending school like any other normal human child would. He was an orphan, without much human contact aside from his few friends and his high school homeroom teacher. During the middle of his second year his life had changed forever.

It all started when his teacher and mentor, Yuko Takao had gotten sick and was admitted to the Shinjuku Medical Center. He and the two of his friends decided to go visit her before she was going to be released. Unknown to him and his friends Chiaki and Isamu, a terrible plot had already been set in motion, in which the three of them would be as much victims… as well as tyrants.

There was a simple name to it – "The Conception". The end of the world, or the Apocalypse. All the same no matter how it could be named, wiping out humanity as a whole and allowing the ruins to become inhabited by demons, gods and creatures of myth almost beyond human understanding. Then – a Reason would be picked out amongst the "fortunate" survivors, on which the foundation of a new world would be born.

A single being – Kagutsuchi, would be the judge, jury and executioner. It would test the ones with the Reasons and the one who prevailed would make his or her own Paradise. So it would be done again and again, and again until the end of Time itself.

An endless cycle of death and rebirth. Senseless genocide, rabid dogs fighting in a small shadow of the world which it once had been. All for the grand amusement of the Creator, who had orchestrated all this for a purpose known only to him… or it – there was no way to truly identify such a creature with a gender.

And in the center of it all was Naoki Kashima. He supposed it had been Takao-sensei, whose role was to be the pillar of the soon-to-be created world, for without her the Conception could not begin, who manipulated him to be present at the Hospital at the start of conception. The Shinjuku Medical Center was the only safe place during the end of the world, and his sensei knew that.

From there on out everything spiraled out of control, and against his own will, Naoki had been transformed into a demi-fiend, a Hitoshura, who had the powers of a demon and the heart of a human. Then his only concern was to survive long enough to understand what was going on. And after that he had found the truth with the help of a being who he never truly understood until the end of that whole ordeal.

He found allies, asking them for help or forcing them to serve him. He fought with his friends… and killed them both. He denied all the Reasons… and broke the cycle. He became something else, something so much more. But that wasn't the end.

So he now found himself in this place, of all places. Even though he had effectively ended his own world – there were many-many other worlds. Some alike, others almost nothing like the one he came from. He had a new mission now, and he needed to concentrate on it.

Naoki sighed, once again looking himself over. He looked like a normal teenage human again. A grey hoodie covering his torso and head, blue jeans on his legs and a pair of stylish black-yellow sneakers on his feet. The visual representation of his demonic self, the glowing tattoos on his body that went from head to toe were invisible, at least to the naked eye. Earlier when he glanced at his reflection he saw that his eyes went to their natural dim-blue color. His short black hair was hidden under the hood right now and the Magatama usually sticking out from the back of his neck was gone, as if it never had been there in the first place.

Looking around, he felt a wave of nostalgia settle over him. He was once again in Japan, though not in Tokyo.

"That would be a sight for sore eyes, I guess." The young-looking demon thought.

He was currently standing on the edge of a narrow alleyway, situated in one of the central districts of the city. It was a place brimming with life, seeing as it was a Shopping District, riddled with shops, boutiques and cafes. There were even a few high-class restaurants in the best places there was to offer here.

Naoki was brought out of his musings by a voice.

"Muuu~ so boring!" a female voice announced right beside him, even though there were currently no other people standing close.

Naoki simply continued to stand there in silence, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, while his eyes roamed through the happy faces of the people wandering about, doing whatever it was they had planned for this afternoon. In fact it was closer to evening right about now. School hours had already ended and lots of students were probably on dates.

"Are you ignoring me?" the female voice asked a question. And still Naoki was silent, as if he did not hear it. "Hey! You are ignoring me, aren't you?" the female voice started to sound irritated, but it seemed to have no effect on the one it was directed at. "Why you…! You stupid…"

Then Naoki felt something smack him in the side of his head, almost making him fall down as his arms flailed around helping him to maintain balance and prevent him from colliding with the harsh and unforgiving asphalt face first. Finally the female seemed to have his attention, as he turned his head to the left, a small embarrassed smile forming on his lips.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." He apologized quietly. "You said something?"

Naoki's gaze landed a small figure beside him, suspended in mid-air. It was a woman, without a doubt. She had on a blue suit consisting of a leotard, stockings and elbow length gloves. Her hair had a peculiar color somewhere between red and brown, a color shared with her eyes. Her ears were long and pointy, like elfish ears, and lastly she had four semi-transparent wings sticking from out of her back. Those were noiselessly flapping, keeping her up in the air and at eye level with him.

Obviously she was a demon, belonging to a race of Fairies.

She was also pouting before. After his reply she lifted her hand, her tiny fist clenched in apparent anger.

"Grrr, so you're not paying attention are you? Jerk!" she smacked his head again with her tiny fist, making it snap downwards. It looked strange, considering the apparent power behind those hits was far greater than her size would indicate.

"Itai." Naoki rubbed his head, trying to ease the pain. "I said I was sorry."

"Hmph! Not good enough." The fairy turned away a bit, crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me, Pixie." Naoki clasped his hands, hiding a small smirk. He was sure that this would be good enough to placate her. After all, they had known each other for a long time. He watched the fairy as she looked back at him and he saw her smile a bit, her expression and posture relaxing as she calmed down.

"I forgive you, even though you're so inconsiderate." She made it sound like she was doing him a favor, but they both knew it was just the way they acted towards one another sometimes, nothing serious. Pixie flew a bit closer to his face, continuing. "It's very rude to ignore a girl like that when they are talking to you. Especially such a beautiful girl like myself." She put a hand on her chest in mock pride.

"Of course, I shall be on my best behavior from now on, Pixie-sama." Naoki bowed a little, playing along.

The fairy seemed satisfied and hopped down on his left shoulder, making herself as comfortable as possible, wiggling her butt for a bit, making him smile at the action.

For a few minutes all was silent between the two of them, as Naoki returned to gazing outside of the alley and to his target. They still seemed to be in the café, which was fine with him. If only it were not so boring a task he would be able to enjoy himself too, but he had to do what he had to do.

"Ne, could we have a date too when we're done here, Naoki-kun?" Pixie broke the comfortable silence with a question, bringing up one knee closer to her, placing both hands on it as she sat on his shoulder.

"A date? You want one?" the Hitoshura looked back at her, surprised evident on his face. He never though he'd hear something like this from Pixie, although it was only natural considering the world they met in. It was a place where the strong thrived and the weak and careless got eaten or killed, if not worse.

"What? I can't have a date?" the red-haired girl asked, a bit upset at his reaction. She was pretty sure he'd say something different, but maybe she'd been too hasty with her opinion on this.

"N-no. It's just that… I never had the time to think about something like that, you know. I mean…" he trailed off, not sure what to say next. Although, now that he thought about it, maybe he could afford a date or something. There was not a demon in sight, and the world was as peaceful as it could get. That didn't mean he would drop his guard down, but he could do it for her. "I guess we could go on a date, if you want." He paused, looking at her saddened face and hastily added. "I want to, of course."

Pixie's face instantly lit up with happiness as she quickly embraced Naoki, or at least did something similar, taking their size difference into account. She actually was able to put her hands around his neck, so she did just that.

"Oh, thank you, Naoki-kun, you're so sweet!" she let him go and stood on his shoulder, tentatively leaning in and kissing the tip of his nose in display of affection. Naoki smiled too, happy for the warmth he experienced as she kissed him. "It's a date then!"

Naoki chuckled quietly as he watched her jump up into the air and twirl around. She often did that when she was genuinely happy, and if at first the former human thought it was silly, now he just thought it was cute.

The young man was about to continue the conversation, but a quick glance in the direction of the café across the street made him alert again. The targets were gone. His mind worked rapidly as he nearly jumped out of the alley, cursing his lack of awareness.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit." His cursing made a young couple, who were walking by holding hands, eating ice-cream and all, almost jump backwards. Naoki frantically turned his head left and right, managing to spot what looked like his targets behind other people, pretty far away.

As Naoki began running after them, making sure not to lose them, he kept berating himself in his head. They must have been about to finish up when he last glanced at them. He had to be more vigilant, especially considering it was he who gave Naoki this task. The young man reasoned that it was a matter very important, even if he had little to no details about his mission aside from the task itself.

He was to follow the target and his date for the whole day after school, observing them. If something happened, or if nothing happened he would still need to hurry with his report to the boss. Naturally, Naoki knew that nothing about this little assignment could be as mundane as it seemed, but so far he just saw a human boy and girl go out on a date, shopping, taking walks and eating at a café. As ordinary as it could get. But his gut told him that something was definitely wrong here, or he wasn't Hitoshura!

Pixie was with him, having quickly hid inside his hooded sweatshirt through the opening he left when he didn't zip up the garment completely. With only the top of her head peeking out so she could see a little, basically only someone with very sharp observational skills would be able to notice her. She also took this chance to press herself as such as she could into his torso, one of the reasons being not to make a strange bulge on the front of his hoodie. She didn't mind his clothes, but it still felt a lot nicer when she could touch him directly. If Naoki noticed, he didn't show it, instead just slowing down to walk when he was within acceptable range to follow the targets without losing them or getting too close and being discovered. Whatever conversation Naoki and Pixie could possibly have between them would have to wait until they found a place safe enough where she would not be seen or heard.

OOoOO

The sun was nearing the horizon, bathing the surroundings with a warm, soft, orange glow. The pair of targets had finally arrived at what seemed to be their final destination before either parting ways or the boy walking the girl home – the Park. The landmark was rather big, with lots of paths leading to areas secluded with greenery, where couples could occupy benches placed there specifically so that they could be mostly undisturbed and get a chance to be lovey-dovey, as they say. There were also a few good places for simple picnics, so that visitors could enjoy the weather and snacks outside in the fresh air.

Naoki used the specifics of the place to evade the public eye and continue his observation from the trees and hidden by the tall, rich bushes. He felt pride at his apparent ninja skills. He sometimes dreamed about being a ninja back in the days when he was human…

Hitoshura sat down behind a tree, hidden from view both by the tree itself and the bushes nearby. From here he could not only see the pair while he, himself, remained unseen but he could also hear what they were talking about. Judging by their path the couple was going to approach the fountain nearby, so Naoki made sure to go ahead of them a bit, so he wouldn't need to relocate again. He felt Pixie climb out from inside his clothes and jump down onto the grass.

When the teenagers approached he made sure to both watch them and listen in on their conversation. He also noticed the moment when their hands brushed together, after which the boy mustered up enough courage to hold her hand. Ah, it seemed to be their first date.

With some surprise Naoki noticed that there was not a soul in sight. Weird.

The girl suddenly broke off, running a bit forward and turning so she could face the boy.

"Ne, Issei-kun." She began; a gentle smile on her lips as she playfully stepped closer to him. "Could you listen to a wish of mine?"

The boy, Issei, seemed to be a bit startled by her request, or perhaps expected something to happen; judging from how his eyes widened and a blush crept up on his face.

"W-what is it? What's your wish?" he stuttered a bit at the beginning. The girl on the other hand kept up her cute smile, before she answered.

"Can you, please, die for me?"

For a second or two it seemed like everything had come to a stop. They boy standing across from the girl froze, as well as the pair listening in from the bushes. But then Issei raised his hand to dig a bit in his ear with his finger, thinking that surely he had misheard something.

"Eh? Umm… what did you say again, Yuuma-chan?" he smiled nervously, trying to cover for his apparent blunder. Really – he had definitely misheard something important. The girl, however, leaned in closer, repeating the same thing.

"Can you die for me?"

She then jumped back, and both Issei and Naoki could observe the bizarre transformation that was happening before their very eyes. Gone were her clothes, ripped away by an unseen force, her figure filled out and matured, her height changing along with her shape. Strange clothes that seemed to belong to an S&M shop formed on her naked body instead, barely covering anything. Just two simple lines of dark-purple cloth that stretched on her full breasts covering her perky nipples, and thong-like panties that seemed to hide only the barest of "shame" – if she had any. The last detail was a pair of dark knee-high boots.

But the strangest of all – a pair of jet-black feathered wings appeared on her back.

"Whoa! What a harlot!" it was Pixie's voice that snapped Naoki out of the daze he was in, transfixed by this strange scene. It seemed like barely a moment ago he was hypnotized or something. Meanwhile the fairy continued, thankfully not loud enough for the 'couple' to hear. "I hope for her sake, the bitch is not trying to seduce my Naoki-kun."

Naoki smirked, turning his head to look at his companion. Seemed like she was getting riled up, and for no reason too. She was quick to irritate, but he guessed it was cute in a way.

"She doesn't even know we're here, remember?" Naoki reasoned, ever the voice of logic.

"But still… " his winged friend pouted, moving closer to her partner. "… if she tries to put a move on you, she's as good as dead."

Naoki couldn't help himself and patted her head lightly, smiling a bit.

"That's cute."

"No, it's not! Cut it out." She quickly crossed her hands and made it evident that she was displeased with him; however she did not try to evade his touch. Naoki knew she wasn't as mad as she tried to appear.

The little interaction almost made him miss whatever was going to happen. He heard something like "danger" and then "Sacred Gear" and "God", before looking back to see Issei now on his knees, blood pooling freely from the hole going through his stomach. The girl – Yuuma or whatever – only watched as the young man toppled on his back, not being able to do anything but gasp and choke on his own blood.

"Thank you for the wonderful memories." The black-winged woman then said, probably the parting phrase and the last thing the boy would hear in his life. She, once again, had that gentle smile on her face. "Goodbye."

And with that the wings flapped once, twice, thrice and she was gone, leaving behind the mess she had made. For a second or two nothing seemed to happen, only the setting sun illuminating the horrible scene in a soothing, warm light. With a tired sigh, Naoki rose to his feet, moving out of the bushes and walking up to the dying young man.

As he stopped in front of the unfortunate lad, a strange mood seemed to hit him. These were strange moments when the Hitoshura liked to talk to himself. When he was human, people said it was a weird habit, and afterwards the demons thought absolutely nothing of it.

"Haah. Today wasn't a total waste of my time it seems." Naoki looked Issei's body over, stopping to look in his eyes. He couldn't understand if the lad could see him or not, since his eyes were getting foggy and unfocused. He also wondered if the boy could hear him. "I guess now I finally have real confirmation that demons do exist here. Or was it a fallen angel? Sure looked that way to me. I wonder though – what sort of thing made you a target. You're just a normal boy as far as I can tell."

Issei tried to rasp something out, whether trying to talk to Naoki or say something else, but only forced some more blood out of his mouth, not being able to say anything coherent. The demon meanwhile, continued.

"It's a shame that I missed the most important part of your conversation too. Really lousy of me." Naoki shook his head in regret. "I wish you could tell me." He then pondered for a moment before turning away from the human. "I could heal you, but it'll just be a waste of my time. 'Me' from the past would definitely help you, but the current 'me' thinks otherwise… oh and one last thing."

Hitoshura turned around after making two steps and clasped his hands, bowing to the lying form of Issei.

"Thank you for the hard work. Magatsuhi is Magatsuhi after all."

And with that he was about to leave, when a something unexpected happened. With a strange sound a small paper flew out of one of Issei's pockets. It was glowing red and emanating dark energy. There was no mistake about it – something was going to happen and that something was not a good sign for Naoki, who decided not to stick around much. With magic in play he could be compromised and the task given to him failed. With a burst of speed the demi-fiend made a dash and jumped up into the trees, not stopping till he was out of the park and as far away as possible, only looking back once before, when he landed on that first tree.

He could see a person appear, long red hair flowing from their shoulders. A girl or woman most likely. He didn't wait for her to spot him and ran away as quickly as he could, without blowing his disguise.

OOoOO

Rias Gremory was not surprised when she felt one of the printout pentagrams react. It was a wish, a summoning, but at an unusual time. It was because of that and the recent developments around the school that she decided to answer the call herself. Usually she would simply let the other members of the Occult Research Club, which she was the President of, handle it, but she had a good feeling about this one.

The teleport spell had only taken seconds.

Once again, she was not surprised when she appeared at one of the City parks, only to see a young man bleeding out on the stone path. The moment she saw his face she recognized him as Issei Hyoudou – a second year student attending Kuoh Academy – the same school she was a part of. Both her and her Vice President had already discovered the dormant power of the Sacred Gear that lay inside the boy, but decided not to act upon their find. Rias took pride in being a Devil that held true to the values and codes of the Gremory Family. They never terrorized humans and let them be as they were, focusing on exterminating Stray devils and Fallen Angels. Sometimes they also had scuffles with Angels, but those cases were rare, unlike the ongoing struggle with the Fallen One's.

"You called me?"

She had the Evil Pieces to resurrect Issei as one of her own; the Sacred Gear would surely become a powerful tool under her command, if what she and Akeno had discovered turned out to be true later. There was also another reason – the main reason of them all. She could not ignore a situation like that if she could help it.

Her mind was set. Issei Hyoudou would become her servant. Her Pawn.

"If you're going to die anyway… I'll take your life for myself." She smiled.

… And there was also the matter of the culprit that escaped the scene. She managed to catch a good enough glimpse of him. It was only a matter of time before she found him.

OOoOO

Naoki Kashima closed the door behind him with a loud bang. He took his time taking off his shoes and then stepped into his apartment. It had been a necessary purchase and the demi-fiend had preferred it have only the necessities and a few comforts he absolutely needed, even though his benefactor had basically an unlimited supply of money to spare on Naoki's accommodations. He could live like a President of a country, but some part of him felt that doing that would be imposing too much, and another part of him simply felt that living in luxury would erode away at his mentality, making him soft and complacent.

So that was why he lived in a small apartment, with only one bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen room, divided into two areas – one for actual cooking, and the other with a low table and a TV. He definitely had little room. The only two windows of his apartment offered a spectacular view of a nearby identical structure. Even a normal human could hop onto the opposite balcony with ease, barging into an unsuspecting neighbor's apartment. The building he lived in was full of apartment like his – all for rent. The landlady looked nice enough and the apartment opposite of his was vacant at the moment. He still preferred to close the curtains anyway, he simply felt safer that way.

Lastly – he had a simple futon for a bed. Beds were overrated anyway.

Naoki stepped into the kitchen room, Pixie silently flying behind him, having been that way since their hasty escape. They were simply too busy, and not in the mood to talk about anything. Naoki was still cursing at himself for being so sloppy on a mission, caught by surprise by both the angel girl and the demonic pentagram.

Now thought, even deep in thought, he managed to instantly catch a glimpse of a figure sitting by the table. He was about to punch first and ask questions later, but the light of the moon illuminating the dark room made the demi-fiend notice the familiar color of the persons hair. Darkness was also not a problem for Naoki, as he had perfect vision in the dark. The colors though, were a little slow to be discerned.

"Ah. You arrived at last. With good news I hope." A man's voice filled the room the three were in. The newcomer had a silky, melodic voice, quite nice and pleasant on the ears, but somewhere deep under it was an immense power held in check. Naoki knew that lesser beings could simply die from hearing it, if the owner of the voice was not careful enough…. or chose not to be.

The intruder was a young-looking man, probably in his twenties, with long blonde hair, almost platinum, that went down to the base of his neck. His skin was pale and he wore an impeccable violet business suit with a yellow tie accompanying it. His eyes were mismatched – one a deep, striking blue, the other almost an unearthly glowing red, piercing the darkness of the room.

"Master." Naoki bowed his head, acknowledging the man in front of him. But the other male just waved it off.

"No need for such titles, Naoki-kun. Just Louis Cyphre will do." The newly named Louis showed a most charming smile. "After all, it's the name I picked out for this me."

"All right, Louis-sensei." Hitoshura agreed, relaxing a little bit. Not once had the man in front of him used the title Naoki bestowed upon him, and for that the demi-fiend was thankful. Indeed, Louis had always been more of a mentor and a guide than a master. He never demanded obedience, but simply led the young man, the lost soul, to the ultimate Truth.

"So, how was your day?" the question could be considered as simple curiosity, but in this situation Naoki could easily read between the lines. "How did your mission go?"

"It was… eventful." He began, sitting down at the table, glancing back to Pixie only once to see that she didn't seem to be interested in the conversation. She was still afraid of Louis it seemed, and with good reason. "Most of the date was as normal as it can be. But at the end, the girl transformed."

Naoki paused, waiting for a reaction from the blonde-haired man, who only nodded with a thoughtful face. The universal sign to continue.

"Her outfit changed and she grew out a pair of black wings, like those of an angel. Then she killed the young man, Issei, saying something about God and Sacred Gear, but I couldn't really understand anything. After that she just flew away, her task completed."

This time Louis leaned forward a bit, a small smirk on his lips.

"Sacred Gear, you say? Interesting." He drummed his fingers on the table, and returned his gaze to Naoki, who had to suppress a shiver at the intensity of the look he was on the receiving end of. "And then? Doesn't seem to be the end of the story." The last sentence was not a question, Hitoshura felt.

"No." Naoki agreed, left with no choice but to continue. "Then, I got closer to inspect the boy. Nothing unusual about him that I could feel. I was just about to leave but then some kind of spell reacted to either the boy, the blood or the Magatsuhi. It doesn't matter in the end. Someone started appearing out of a pentagram – I clearly felt demonic energies, but…"

"But?"

"The energies, both from the pentagram and from that dark angel, were so different I could recognize them but barely. They don't seem to use almost any Magatsuhi, if any at all." Naoki stated his observations, hoping that perhaps his mentor could give some answers.

"Remember that there are many worlds in the Multiverse. Many natural laws and magical laws may work on entirely different concepts. Your main purpose must be analysis, for without uncovering the mysteries, one cannot grasp the truth." Louis offered his advice, and seemed to settle the matter with that.

"I understand." Naoki nodded and proceeded to finish his story. "I made an escape as fast as possible, without resorting to magic and breaking my disguise. The person that appeared may have seen me, or she may have not. I did not stay to confirm."

"I see." Louis leaned back, relaxing his posture. All in all, he did not seem displeased. "The fact that you might have been discovered certainly brings a factor of risk and anticipation into the game, does it not? Exciting." The blonde man smirked, making his comrade hang his head in shame. "What truly matters is that we have made our first move, and maybe the other players will show themselves soon."

"Other players?" Naoki questioned, curious about any possible opponents, his shame instantly forgotten.

"As always, Naoki-kun, so eager to engage enemies in battle." Louis waved his hand, making a steaming tea cup appear on the table, taking a sip and placing it back down. "But that is to be expected; after all it's what you were made to do."

The Hitoshura took that in stride. It was the truth and there was nothing more to it. There were no hidden barbs or insults, no other hidden meanings. Louis had made him into a perfect soldier, an ultimate killing machine. And Naoki could truthfully admit to himself that he anticipated the fight, relished the carnage, and took pleasure from the rush of power nothing else could provide as much.

Louis smiled fully now, revealing his perfect teeth.

"There are three factions, the Devils, the Fallen Angels and the Angels that serve God. I shall tell you what few things I know about this particular world…"

Naoki Kashima's eyes shone blood-red in the dead of night, as he listened to his Mentor.

AN: The 1st chapter done. Hope ya like it. A lot of confusion and seemingly no answers, but that's the plan.

To anyone who happens to follow me as an Author – I will be updating this story for now. My older works will have to wait. To those unfamiliar with any of my older works (not that any were even decent, except for one) – will update this soon.

Question: Anyone know the name of the City where Highschool DxD takes place? I didn't find anything.