Little Sister and A Proposition

Being set down by Himejima-senpai, I felt her hands linger for a second too long before she spoke, a teasing tone evident in his voice, "If you ever need flying somewhere, just tell me, Kurosawa-kun - I'd be more than willing~" she said and I felt a bit embarrassed at the insinuation. Especially with how she kept squeezing my body on the way over.

...Isn't that sexual harrassment or something?

"Sure, Himejima-senpai," I replied, half-heartedly before walking to the door. It was a little passed 8, so the person I called over to do the babysitting shouldn't be too annoyed, right?

Opening the door, I was met by the babysitter and I smiled apologetically before saying how sorry I was to keep her waiting. Soon after that, I paid her, gave her a decently sized tip, and then waved her off. She looked at me with an appraising eye when she saw I'd brought three girls and a passed out guy to my house. Surprisingly, Issei's clothes had magically healed and been cleaned.

...Maybe magic like that exists. After all, if there's such a thing as light spears, such trivial magic should exist, right?

"Come on in," I said, waving the three girls in.

"Excuse our intrusion," Gremory-senpai bowed lightly at me but I just waved it off. She just stepped in and helped me and Issei get out of that situation. Though I feel like she could have stepped in earlier...it's good enough that she stepped in at all. Most people wouldn't have gotten involved.

Once they were all in the house, I pointed toward the living room door, "Please, the living room is that way. I need to go and get this to my sister," I lifted the bag before closing and locking the door. All three of them nodded before walking into the living room.

Seeing them enter, I quickly made my way up the stairs before standing in front of a door with a sign on it that said [Anna's Room~!] before I knocked on the door, "Are you awake, Anna?" I asked, just loud enough to be heard through the door but quiet enough that if she were asleep, she wouldn't be woken up by me.

But a coughing fit, followed by a forced cheery voice came as a reply, "I-I'm awake, Leo-nii!" she got out and hearing the cough, my expression faltered for a second before I put on a smile and opened the door.

Looking at my sister...one thing was apparent. She took after our father more than our mother.

She had the same black hair as him. The same eyes. Even her features were more asian-like than our mother's European looks. One look between me and Anna would make it seem like we weren't blood related. I'd taken after our mother - blond hair, aqua green eyes, western features...but we both had one thing in common.

Wavy hair. Unlike the straight hair of most Japanese people, my hair and my sister's was quite wavy. That and our ears were quite similar as well.

Even with our differences, Anna was the little sister I loved. Which was why it hurt so much to see her figure look so frail. Her skin so pale and pallid. She looked like an especially strong wave of wind would knock her over or break her.

But I kept my smile up as I walked over and sat next to her. Reaching a hand into the bag, I took out a bottle of pills, extending my hand to her, "Your medicine, my lady," I teased and she giggled before taking the bottle and opening it. My hand free, I reached back into the bag before pulling out a bottle of water for her.

For the next few minutes, I pulled out pill bottle after pill bottle, handing them to my sister so she could get the medicine necessary to support her heart and lungs. Despite the annoyance of having to go through it all, my sister didn't complain one bit and smiled at me after every pill.

Each smile chipped away at my own.

Just as the last pill was finished and ingested, Anna's gaze fell down to my jacket sleeve and with an eyebrow raised, she pointed at it, "What happened to your sleeve, Leo-nii?"

Hearing her, I went to cover it, thinking she hadn't seen the hole...but then I realized that I was no longer in any pain. Equally as confused as Anna, I brought a hand to the hole and prodded at my flesh. Expecting pain, I braced myself but nothing came. Just the sensation of touch being transmitted.

As my confusion was beginning to mount higher and higher, the rugged voice spoke again, [That would be because of me. My hosts are gifted with incredible healing powers and stamina recovery. Among many other things, that is,] the voice spoke, much more bored-sounding than it was during the fight with that Fallen Angel earlier, [Don't worry about meagre wounds and answer your sibling before she becomes suspcious.]

Realizing that my sister was just patiently staring at me, I knocked myself out of my stupor and answer, "I...I really don't know what happened. Maybe it got ripped on the way home and I didn't notice," I said, feeling bad about the lie I had to tell but also knowing that if I told the truth my sister would most likely call me a liar. Or a maniac. One of the two.

"Hmm," she said with a nod before her face lit up, "If your coats ruined, that means we can go out shopping to get one, right?" she said, her eyes lighting up with excitement.

I was smiling but deep down, I was pained beyond belief.

"Mhm," I nodded with a smile that was actually genuine, "But only if you take your medicine for the next few days. We'll see how you are on the weekend, okay?" I said and she nodded rapidly before suddenly her focus was on something behind me and at the door.

Innocently, she tilted her head, "Who's that, Leo-nii?" she asked and I turned around to see Gremory-senpai. I was about to answer when Anna gasped and brought her hands to her cheeks, her eyes alight with a weird excitement which was soon clarified when she spoke, "Is that your girlfriend?!" she said and I smiled as I shook my head.

. . .

POV Change - Rias Gremory

...He thought off a Fallen Angel on his own. We know he's the descendant of two heroes but he has no prior training...and that Sacred Gear is definitely an Longinus. I was right to send Akeno to watch over him.

Without that I would've never known he'd gotten involved with the fight. Luckily with Akeno and Koneko there, there was no chance of either of them getting hurt.

Even so...I need to have a go at Onii-sama for getting in the way of me helping! They're citizens of my Town and potential Peerage members of mine! How could I ever let them get hurt?!

Though I obviously knew why Onii-sama stopped me - he didn't want me starting war with the Fallen Angels by killing that one...what was her name again? Raynare?--It doesn't matter. I understand why I couldn't get involved straight away but it doesn't mean I have to like it! I'm just glad that Leo-kun was there. Otherwise Hyoudou-kun...even if we tried our best to wade through the political waters, it would have been too late to get to him.

But thinking back to Leo-kun...is he secretly part of the supernatural world?

That thought was instantly thrown from my head as I thought back to how shocked he'd looked as he saw my Devil wings. He's not a part of the supernatural world...he's just innately that talented. A normal human taking on a Fallen Angel.

...He truly lives up to his heroic heritage.

Stepping up the last step of the stairs, I turned and heard light chatter. Recognizing one of the voices as Leo-kun, I walked down the hallway to a door and found myself in a remarkly pink room, highlighted with places of blue in it - a typical teenage girl's room, from the looks of it.

I knew Leo-kun had a sister, an ill one, but as I looked at the pale and frail-looking girl, I felt a pang of pity ravage my chest.

Compared to the tall, broad and robust Leo, she was quite the opposite. But the onyx colored eyes that turned to stare at me were full of intelligence that I was quite frankly shocked by--Could this girl be just naturally intelligent or...

"Who's that, Leo-nii?" she asked with a tilted head and I found myself feeling like a deer caught in the head lights for some reason. Leo-kun turned back and saw me before smiling and going to answer...which is when his sister cut him off, "Is that your girlfriend?!" she nearly shouted, her face lighting up at the potential gossip she could get from this.

She tried to get up, throwing the quilt off her body despite it looking like it took most of her strength. She grabbed what looked to be assistance crutches which spurred Leo into action.

His eyes were quickly filled with a protective worry and he burst into action, running around to the other side of the bed and snatching the crutches away, "No, Anna! You need to rest! It's nearly half past eight and you need to go to bed anyway!"

"But Leo-nii!" the girl whined, her lips pouted before she motioned to me, "I need to welcome your first girlfriend into the house! It's my duty!" she said that with an odd amount of pride that I couldn't hold back a chuckle at how cute this girl was being.

"What duty?" Leo-kun said helplessly as he looked to me, "And Gremory-senpai, don't encourage her, please," he begged with an embarrassed face which was quite rare to see. If I could snap a shot of his embarrassed face, I have no doubt that many girls at school would want to buy it from me fufu~

Smiling calmly at Leo-kun, I decided to give him a way out, "Hyoudou-kun just woke up and was asking where you were since he recognized that we were in your house," I said before looking between him and his sister, "Though we can wait a little more if you need," I said with a smile.

Hearing me, Leo-kun let out a dazzling smile before shaking his head, "No, no, I'll come down now," he motioned to Anna, "Anna was just about to go to sleep anyway," he said, gently pushing his sister back into bed and tucking her in.

She tried to complain about it but she didn't seem all tha against her brother being so gentle and tending to her - it made me wonder, is this how people see me and Onii-sama?

...I hope not. That would be quite embarrassing, actually.

Leo-kun finished it all off with a kiss on his sister's forehead before getting up off the bed and walking to me. I exited the room and let him get out before he closed the door. The two of us looked at one another for a few seconds befoe I initiated the conversation, "...Your sister is quite cute, you know?" I smiled to which he smiled as well.

"Yep~ Cutest little sister in the world," he said with a clearly happy and proud voice, to which I chuckled.

"I think my older brother would disagree with you, Leo-kun," I said to which he looked at me with an amused look and a hand on his chin, like he was assessing me.

"Hmm," he started, scratching his chin, "Gremory-senpai is a close second in terms of cuteness," he teased and both his words and gaze made my face heat up and flush a little red - didn't he just admit that I'm cute? And even then, why is it effecting me so much? Loads of people have called me much more flattering things!

As I was having an internal meltdown, Leo-kun's face lost it's teasing and playful look and went back to a more neutral and forced smile as he picked up his speed.

Looking at his broad back...I felt sympathy. He had so much on his shoulders. It made me want to coddle him and hug him, telling him it'll get better someday.

In the end, my resolve to get him into my Peerage was strengthened for a, frankly, childish but pure reason.

. . .

POV Change - Leo Kurosawa

Chiding myself for flirting with my senpai just outside my terminally ill sister's room, I picked up my speed as I tried to squash any of the thoughts that popped into my head after seeing Gremory-senpai's cute blushing face--

Stopping myself from even that, I grit my teeth and cleared my mind as I walked down the stairs, a silent Gremory-senpai following behind me.

As I got downstairs, I saw Himejima-senpai holding her hands up and over Issei, a red-colored Magical Circle hovering over his now bare chest. The flesh, which had been sliced and burnt, was slowly merging back together.*

(A/N - I know Akeno doesn't know Healing Magic in Canon but this is only some very basic healing she's doing. Nothing complex. She's also a Queen so she should know the basics of most magics, right?)

"Leo!" Issei gave a shout as he saw me, his face full of confusion and disbelief, "Can you believe all of this? The two hottest girls in our school aren't even human! Not that that takes away from your charm, Himejima-senpai!" he quickly clarified as senpai's smile that didn't reach her eyes came across her face again.

...Scary.

"That's what you're disillusioned about?" I asked with raised eyebrows because letting out a chuckle, "Himejima-senpai, you can stop healing him now. He's fine," I said, jokingly.

To which Issei quickly put on a pained expression, "Oh my, I'm so injured, please don't stop healing me~" he exaggerated as he collapsed back into the sofa.

Smiling, I walked over and sat next to him. Gremory-senpai sat opposite us along with Toujou-san.

Starting the conversation, Gremory-senpai spoke up first, "Leo-kun, Hyoudou-kun...I would like the two of you to become Devils in my Peerage," she spoke with such sincerity that I nearly forgot to be confused at what she was asking.

Become a Devil? How the hell do you do that?

Issei was just shocked and muted by his shock, while I just narrowed my eyes, "...What would becoming a Devil do? And what is this Peerage you speak of?"