Friendship and Promise

(Issei and Akeno)

While both of their respective parents were having a discussion among themselves, Akeno made her way towards Issei and marvelled at his wings.

"So those are the wings of a dragon?" she asked. Issei, confused, tilted his head a bit at her remark until he quickly realized what she meant. His 4 draconic wings were exposed and she got to see it. He became frightened at the thought that she would now back away from knowing that he wasn't human, but a monster. Although, contrary to his belief, she just smiled at him and said

"Wow, your wings are fascinating. They possess beautiful combination of crimson and black." looking at his wings. Issei, surprised asked "You're not afraid of me. I… I thought you would be scared knowing I was monster" he solemnly said to Akeno with his head down. She simply approached him and karate chopped his head and an "omf" came out from him as he rubbed his head a bit

"you're silly, why would I be afraid of my friend?" she said a bit annoyed that he thought so little of their friendship. Issei could not believe it; despite knowing what he is, she did not shy away from him and still called him his friend. He was stupefied the answer he guessed was completely off the mark. Looking at the expression of relief in his face brought a smile to her face and she decided to reveal her little secret, although seeing that issei already "met" her father he should probably know that she isn't entirely human either. She spread out her 2 fallen angel wings from her back. Issei saw them and only one thing came to mind.

"So pretty." He suddenly blurted out. Akeno cheeks blushed red at the statement he made. "R… Really?" she asked knowing this was the first time a boy complemented her and she liked it.

"Can I touch them?" he asked with sparkling eyes as he had never seen fallen angel wings before. Akeno nodded and Issei quickly began to feel them not knowing that Akeno was slightly blushing since fallen angel wings are very sensitive.

"amazing, they are so soft and fluffy in addition to being beautiful" he said speaking honestly from the heart which, again, made Akeno blush red at the compliments he gave. She then glanced at his wings and decided to also feel them. She was very curious considering that it is the first time she has ever met or even seen a dragon.

"Ufufu, your wings are big and strong yet gentle to the touch. The wings of a dragon indeed look splendid" she smiled at him when she said that which made him blush as well.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a dragon?" she asked him.

"I was just afraid that you would be scared of me knowing what I am. I guess it was unfounded. hehehe" He replied scratching the back of his head. "But seriously, thank you for accepting me as your friend. You have no idea how much that means to me." He continued looking at her straight in the eyes to show how serious he was with a big grin on his face to which Akeno again blushed a bit and replied

"N No problem, as I told you before, you are my friend and that won't change no matter what race you belong too." Issei's heart was extremely relieved when he told her that. It felt as if a huge burden was lifted off of his shoulders and he could not express how deeply thankful he is to Akeno for it. A small silence permeated after she said that, both not knowing what to say until Akeno broke the silence.

"So, do you want to continue playing? I have no idea how long our parents will keep talking to each other." she asked him and Issei nodded signaling that he agrees as they continued playing together.

Back with the parents, after a long arduous argument and many apologies being said, Shuri decided to break the ice so to say.

"How about we continue our discussion inside. I was previously making tea and I would happy if you could join us while the kids are playing together." Thinking a bit on her offer, Great-red accepted her offer and told them that he needed to talk to Ophis for a bit and then they would join them inside. Barakiel and Shuri both nodded and went inside letting the two dragon gods to talk amongst themselves.

Great-red could tell that Ophis was still irritated over the previous events that transpired so he wanted to try and calm her down as much as possible.

"Look, the Fallen Angel Barakiel already apologized for the earlier incident against Issei so how about you lay it to rest, forgive them, and take this chance to get to know them better." He asked her trying his best to reason with her. Ophis, in response, glared at him angrily replying

"How do you expect me to forgive him after he nearly harmed our son"

Seeing how stubborn she was, Great-red decided to try a different approach.

"huh, OK you know what, fine!" he said as Ophis raised her eye brow a bit trying to understand what he meant. He just continued on "You can do whatever you want. If you really can't forgive them for their actions then go ahead and do what ever you feel is right, I will not stop you if you wish to get rid of them or, as I previously mentioned, we can erase their memories and put all of this behind us. However, look over there." She paused as he pointed towards Issei. He waited until Ophis turned around and looked towards their son and then continued

"Know if you do this, then it will take away the small amount of happiness that Issei managed to earn during his stay here. Do you have the heart to this? Like I said, I will adhere to any choice you make" Great red finished letting Ophis to slowly take in his words. At first, Ophis, still infuriated was hell bent on dealing with the fallen angel. Circumstances or not, no one gets away with threatening the life of her son. That was the promise she made to herself when she left the dimensional gap. Nevertheless, after gazing at her son having fun with Akeno, she slowly began to calm down, letting Great red's words sink in. Would she be able to do this knowing the effect it would have on Issei? As she was debating with herself, she suddenly remembered something Issei told her back when he was defending Barakiel "please don't do this, if you do I… I… I will hate you." The mere thought of Issei hating her sent her emotions spiraling out of control. "I can't let what that insolent being almost did to my little Issei go unpunished but I don't want Issei to resent me. What do I do?", she thought to herself. Never in her life had she ever encountered such troubles since as the Uroboros dragon god, no sane being ever messed with her but now it seems the enemy is herself. Internally, she is stuck between two sides. Should she follow through with her promise or discard it for Issei.

How ironic that she threatened great-red to put Issei's well being and happiness above all else including his crazy antics, and yet, here he was thinking only about Issei happiness while she is placing her pride above Issei. What cruel irony. In the end she exhaled a sigh of defeat looking back at great-red.

"You are right. I still don't think I can forgive him for what he has done but for 'our' sons happiness, I will at least try to get along with them."

At this, Great-red gave out a cheeky grin although decided not to tease her about it since he knew how hard it was for her to admit that he was right.

"very well! Let's not keep them waiting any longer then?" he said as he dragged her inside the shrine where they saw Shuri preparing the table with tea and a few refreshments. When Shuri saw them walk in, she graced them with a smile and kindly invited them to come and join them.

"Please make yourself at home! I am almost done preparing tea and there are a few cupcakes on the table. You are welcome to take some if you'd like!". At the mention of sweets, Ophis immediately bolted towards the table in the blink of an eye and before anyone even noticed she was already munching on one. It took everything in Great Red's willpower to not just let go and laugh at the scene before him "Well, I guess that's one way to calm her down" he thought to himself as he took a seat next to her. He wouldn't admit it to her but he found her action to be extremely cute

"I didn't know you liked sweets that much." Teased great-red now sporting a grin.

Ophis blushed a bit which she tried to quickly hide as she answered "Oh shut up, baka-red!"

Great red, amused with her reaction sported a small giggle which Ophis noticed but before she could reprimand him, Shuri came back with freshly prepared mint tea and began to serve both of them. In addition, she brought out some sake for her husband and for her guests in case they wanted some as well as she is not familiar with the type of drinks dragons would want.

Ophis, being ticked off by Great-red's behaviour, decided to sit at the other end of the table. Shuri let out a small giggle seeing her reaction remembering that she used to do the same thing whenever her husband did something, she didn't like but it was often to tease him as his expressions were priceless. Plus, she got to administer her own "punishment" whenever Barakiel tried to make up with her. She then decided to join her and try to get to know her better. Seeing that Ophis was not interested in starting a conversation, she would have to break the ice between them.

"I take it, that is how he usually behaves?" she asked curiously. Ophis turned around, still annoyed by Great-red and answered

"Unfortunately." Seeing that she managed to start a conversation, Shuri poured tea for both them until Ophis looked at the other bottle next to the tea and got curious what it was.

"What drink is that" as she pointed towards the bottle near the tea. Shuri took the bottle and answered "This is sake that my husband drinks. He usually drinks it whenever we have guests or to sometimes help alleviate his mood whenever he gets depressed or agitated." Ophis, being a bit naïve, took that statement quite literally and decided to try some since she was not in a very good mood at the present moment.

After a few drinks of sake, she literally started pouring out her pent-up feelings about Great-red

"The dimensional gap was my home long before he ever knew it existed and yet he simply waltzes in and starts living there. He is extremely noisy performing all his crazy maneuvers and when I told to get of my house, he just shrugs me off saying that there is enough space for both us. The nerve of him. What an annoying, obnoxious, noisy, loathsome…"

As Ophis kept slinging insult after insult about Great-red letting everything out in the open, Shuri found her reactions to be absolutely adorable. It seems even a dragon god has worries just like any other living being.

"Even worst, it seems my little Issei is slowly being corrupted by him. I saw him teach him do some of his annoying stunts back home. I cannot allow Issei to end up like that idiot." Ophis exclaimed.

"Ufufu, in that case, why don't you punish him a bit. Isn't is a wife's duty to discipline her husband whenever he does something stupid. Give him a good smack in the head to let him know how you feel." Answered Shuri, letting a small grin appear on her face.

"You know what, you are right, I'm going to give him a peace of mind" stated Ophis. You could tell that she was a bit drunk as she just casually ignored the fact that she was called Great-reds wife, something that would have made her enraged a few months ago. Shuri simply giggled a bit as she followed Ophis towards their husbands.

"How's it like living in the dimensional gap?" asked Barakiel as he took a sip of his sake.

"It's an amazing place that grants me the freedom to do whatever I please" answered great-red as he remembered swimming unhindered throughout the dimensional gap while performing as many awesome moves he could think off. "Ah, those were the days".

"Ohh, anything interest happen?" questioned Barakiel.

Great red pondered on the thought "hmm, other than Ophis constantly bugging me to get out of the dimensional gap I don't think… wait I do remember one thing."

Flashback

In the dimensional gap, a 20-meter-tall purple dragon came up to great red

"Great-red, my name is Tannin the Blaze Meteor Dragon. I have recently been appointed the title of dragon king and I challenge you to a duel." Said dragon, revealed to be Tannin, after his declaration immediately started to assault Great-red with his renowned flame that took the shape of a meteor easily bigger than Tannin. The attack hit Great-red causing an explosion. However, out of that attack came Great-red virtually unscathed as he continued to fly across the dimensional gap seemingly having brushed aside Tannin's attack. To say that Tannin was shocked would be an understatement. He knew that Great-red was the strongest dragon in existence which is why he wanted to test his power against him, to see his limits. Yet, he could not believe that his full power couldn't even make Great-red notice him, let alone scratch him. "What a monster of unparalleled strength"

Completely ignorant of Tannin's inner turmoil, only one thing was going on in Great-red's mind. "hmm, did I hit something… doesn't matter, should I try a back roll this time?" he was pondering what crazy stunt to perform next.

Flashback end

"Not sure if I bumped into something but I do not believe anything of value has occurred to me. Although that was the past and now my actions are aligned with a single goal, and that is to give my son Issei the best life possible." Great red gave a genuine smile while thinking of his son. Barakiel, understanding what he meant responded with a smile of his own. "I understand. My family is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I will do anything to ensure their happiness" looking at Shuri, who was busy making conversation with Ophis.

"Although sometimes I fear that my strength will not be enough to protect them from harm." He said as his face showed a gloomy expression

Raising his brow, "From what I can tell, you have doing a good job so far. Why doubt that now?" questioned Great-red.

"It's not that simple! Throughout my life, I have made many enemies who would go to great lengths to harm me if given the chance. If, by some chance, they found out about my family, I dread to think of the horrors they would do to them. My greatest fear is that one day, I am unable to protect them and they pay the price for my mistakes." Barakiel shivered at the thought.

"If you do not believe that your strength is enough to defend them, then why not move them to your Organization Grigori, I'm sure that perverted fallen Azazel would help you since you are allies?"

"I have considered that. However, my wife and I did not want Akeno to live her life closed off from the outside. She should be able to grow up like a normal child, making friends, going to school and I do not want to deprive her of a childhood. In addition, according to Azazel, there are traitors inside Grigori so if anything, they would be placed into even more danger. I cannot let them get caught in the crossfire so we opted to living here, in the shrine away from prying eyes." Barakiel explained to Great-red.

Great-red did understand a bit where Barakiel was coming from. The only reason him and Ophis moved to the human world was to give Issei a somewhat normal social life and they keep themselves hidden in order to not attract attention towards them since however unlikely, they did not want Issei to get hurt.

"I see. For what it is worth, I think you are doing a great job at protecting your family. So my advice to you would be to continue doing the best you can and everything should be alright. After all, no one knows what the future may hold or what is in store for us, not even me; therefore, the future you describe might not even come to pass so don't worry to much about it." Barakiel was a bit taken a back by Great-reds wisdom as he recalled how Azazel once described him as which made him giggle a bit.

"hehe, you really are a lot different than the simple minded dragon Azazel described you to be" he said in a low voice however, with his enhanced hearing Great-red managed to pick it up. "Oh did he now!" he thought to himself as he flashed a bit of his power with a grin on his face with no one the wiser.

In the Grigory, Azazel was conveniently taking a nap, when all of a sudden his dream turned into one of his worst nightmares where his Vice-Governor Shemhazai as well as the other Fallen Angel leaders started destroying his laboratory and all his creation labelling them as dangerous. Then, all of a sudden, both the Seraph Gabriel and Maou Serafall appeared both wearing evil grins as they brought forth a special collection of books in front of Azazel who realized that it was his porn collection that he kept stashed away. Both activated a fire spell and quickly Azazel understood what they were gonna do

"Noooo, Gabriel, Serafall, please don't burn my treasure. I beg of you, have mercy.." It all fell on deaf ears as they set a blaze his collection

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Azazel would continue to have these nightmares over the following week which he later dubbed "The Worst week of his entire existence" and for "safety" decided to add a variety of locks and spells to his treasure just to be very sure.

(Back to the shrine)

Great-red internally laughed at the small prank he inflicted on Azazel. "That's what you get for calling me simple minded you punk". Well, he was used to being called way worst names by Ophis in the past but he will be damned if he allowed someone to mock him. Barakiel noticing his absent-minded expression asked

"Is something the matter?" to which Great-red quickly replied

"No, everything is alright. Anyways, where were we… ah yes, if it would alleviate your worries a bit, how about I make a proposition? Should danger ever befall your family, give me a call and I will help you protect them." To say that Barakiel was shocked would be an understatement. Did the strongest dragon just offer to protect his family?"

"W Why would y you" studerred Barakiel before Great red raised his hand thereby interrupting Barakiel question as he continued

"I know what you were going to ask and to tell you the truth, the primary and foremost reason I am doing this is for my son. Issei has befriended your daughter and if anything were to happen to you all, my son would be devastated and that is something that both Ophis and I would want to avoid at any cost."

Barakiel could not believe what he was hearing and yet he could only have the briefest of hope that it was true. The Apocalypse dragon was implying that he would help protecting his family. Even if it is in the interest of his son, which Barakiel could understand his reasoning as he would do the same for his daughter, it would pretty much be the best protection his family would ever get. He could not even begin to describe how truly happy and grateful he was to the dragon so he did what he could and bowed deeply to him.

"I am eternally grateful for this. Truly, I would be in your debt if you were to help me protect my family." Responded Barakiel. Great red just motioned him to raise his head and answered

"Do not worry about it. Besides all th.."

All of a sudden, someone hit him in the back of the head, thus ruining the current atmosphere, to which he around and saw that Ophis performed the act.

"HEY, what the hell was that for" he asked while rubbing the back of his head. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed that Ophis cheeks were flushed and she was swaying a bit meaning only one thing. "Oh shit, is she drunk? I did not know it was even possible for a dragon god to get drunk" he thought to himself before Ophis interrupted his thoughts

"That was for mocking me earlier and for all the crazy stuff you put me through." She then proceeded to hit him again.

"HEEEY, why did you hit me again!" demanded Great red.

"Because I felt like it! hehehe" she answered, now sporting a big grin on her face. Drunk or not, she felt great being able to smack him around. Great-red could tell she was actually happy. And he would probably never admit it but he found her expression to be incredibly cute as for the first time, he saw her as a beautiful woman.

Barakiel who saw their little episode tried to restrain his laughter but eventually could not hold it back any longer.

"hahahahaha, you better get used to this my friend. Unfortunately, that is one of the, shall we say, inconvenience of having a wife." He exclaimed

"Ara, did you just say something I cannot ignore my dear husband? It seems you are in need of a little punishment after this." Shuri exclaimed as she licked her lips in anticipation of her hidden activities with her husband. Barakiel knowing what she meant by "punishment" blushed a bit as he was looking forward to it. His wife is a very big sadist while he is a masochist so in a way you could say they are indeed a perfect match.

"Ehh… Yes. I mean may.. uhh" Barakiel could not think of anything as his mind went blank but, on the side, he could hear Great-red laughing at him this time around. Ophis just stared at her "husband"

"hmm, Shuri has the right idea."

"Oh, what is this? You became friends already I see. That was fast considering it is you we are talking about?"

"Well, at least, she is a million times more tolerable than you" Ophis exclaimed as she pointed towards him.

Great-red clutched his chest in mock pain "Oh, you wound me Ophis." He joked. Ophis decided to go along with it and responded

"Well, it's about you felt pain for all that you have put me through."

Everyone just laughed as they were all having a good time. Even Ophis had to admit to herself that she was enjoying the time spend with them despite the previous mishap. And so, they continued on talking to one another.