Haru walked with purpose as he tried to locate his junior with his new heightened abilities. Before he picked up Koneko, he felt an aura that made him smile and blush a little. "R-Rias." He stumbled a little when he called the girl by her given name.
"Haru!" Rias shouted happily before she bounded for her object of affection and brought him in a big hug.
Haru blushed at the sudden contact and was happy to see Rias and hug her once more. He did enjoy feeling her breasts against him but stored those thoughts away for now. The redhead boy hugged her back, making her blush as well, not that he could see it. "… Haru smell." Rias said as she inhaled Haru's familiar scent.
The boy rubbed the back of his head nervously while his blush turned up another color of red at what she had said. Guess she does like me like I like her. He thought happily to himself. This time a flash of light blue eyes that shone in happiness appeared. Groaning silently, he focused back on the hugging girl. "Ah sorry 'bout that. I've been sweating a lot and haven't been able to shower." He tried to explain but Rias just waved him off.
"It's fine. Your smell is still the same. I was lonely, you know? I haven't been able to sleep with you since arriving here, and I wasn't able to feel you like this every day either. Since, I can no longer imagine a life without you… what a pitiful master I am. However, a little endurance is needed… Hm?" Rias ended with a slight question while letting go to look at his blushing face.
S-Sh-She basically just said she can't live without me! He shouted in his head while doing a little dance inwardly. Haru knocked himself from his thoughts when he noticed she was looking at his face with a growing blush for a bit. "W-What's wrong? Is-Is there something on my face?"
Rias, after letting go of her [Pawn], finally registered what he called her. 'D-Did he just call me by my name?!' She thought to herself with happy shock. "R-Ri-Right now… did you call me by my name?" She asked, hoping she heard him correctly.
"Uh-um… yea. Should I not?" Haru asked with a bashful expression. Rias looked like she was just smacked when he thought she didn't want him to call her by her name.
"N-No! I-I was just shocked. W-Why so sudden?" Haru turned his head to the left, covering his blushing face. "V-V-Venelana-sama kind of insisted I call you by your name in privacy."
Rias blushed almost as bright as her hair when she heard what he said. Finally! He said my name! She shouted to herself with girlish glee but soon gained her composure and just muttered. "Geez… Mother." The crimson princess tried to play it off.
Haru found this side of her cute while grinning at her embarrassment. "Anyway, Rias." He spoke seriously. "How's Koneko-chan?" Rias's face turned a little down at the question. "… Follow me."
The Gremory heir led her pawn to Koneko's room. Rias knocked a little before coming in after hearing an "Enter". Haru first saw Akeno sitting by a bed that held lying Koneko. Eyes widened though when he noticed Koneko's extra appendages. Two cat ears and a white cat tail.'S-She really is a kitty cat. He thought to himself with a little amusement.
Akeno panicked a little when she saw Haru's reaction. "Ha-Haru-kun! T-This is—" She tried to explain only to stop when Haru looked at her with a small smile.
"It's alright. I already know the story." Akeno looked a little sad that he knew but now understood why he came here. Walking slowly he stopped when he was at her side and examined her with his new dragon vision. So lucky Ddraig's helping me with my dragon powers. He mentally thanked his other dragon master. Seems fine. She just collapsed from really hard training. He thought with a sigh of relief.
"Hey Koneko-chan. How are you feeling?" Haru asked with a soft voice and smile. Koneko just glanced up at him through half-lidded eyes. "… What are you doing here?" She muttered out.
While a little hurt at her sullen attitude he just let it slid off his back as he looked in her eyes. Thanks to his heightened senses he could feel what others were thinking much better. Kneeling down to her height he spoke. "Would it have been better if I didn't come and see if my comrade was feeling well?" Haru asked, trying to lighten her mood. It obviously fell through as she continued to look at him with dull eyes.
"… I heard about it…the story." He informed, making Koneko widen her eyes a little but soon looked even sadder. "But overworking yourself is not good. You've got to take care of your body. Don't push yourself beyond your limits." He tried to advice. Rias and Akeno were honestly surprised at his words. They have never really seen this more logical level headed side of Haru so they didn't know how to react.
"… I want…" Koneko muttered something softly. Her words were so quiet even Haru couldn't make it out. "What did you say?" He asked as gently as he could.
The tiny rook finally looked at the dragon holder and spoke in a clear voice. Her eyes were holding back the dam of tears. "I want to become strong. Strong like Yuuto-senpai, Xenovia-senpai, Akeno-san… and also Haru-senpai. I want to make my spirit and body strong. Gya-kun is also becoming strong. I don't have a healing power like Asia-senpai either. At this rate, I'll become useless. Even while I'm the [Rook]… I'm the weakest. I hate being useless."
"Koneko-chan…" Haru could only say as he looked at the crying Koneko. He wanted to say something but he knew this was needed. It was like his own revelation on the mountain… she needed this.
"… But I don't want to use the power sleeping inside me… my Nekomata power. If I use it, I… just like my Nee-sama. I don't want that. I absolutely don't want such a thing." Her tears were now freely falling from her face.
Haru wanted to say something but knew he couldn't since he didn't know what it felt like to be left alone by a sibling. "You won't." Haru spoke up finally.
Koneko looked at him with surprise. "I won't let that happen." His voice got a little louder and determined. "You're strong Koneko-chan. You won't fall to that power because you have all of us." Haru gestured to Rias and Akeno who were looking at him with admiration. "We'll pull you back to your right mind even if you become crazy. I promise!" He ended with a warm grin that made Koneko look at him with wide eyes.
Something inside Koneko warmed after hearing what the red dragon boy said. She felt… warm. She felt sure he would make true to his promise and that made her want to give anything a chance.
"Haru-kun, please leave the rest to us." Akeno asked after a few moments of silence.
Glancing back he gave her a nod. "Of course." Turning around he was about to open the door before stopping his hand just an inch from the handle. Turning his head towards Akeno and Koneko he spoke with a soft voice.
"… I know I have no right to say this, since I just became a Devil not too long ago… but I know how you might be feeling. We three have something we need to overcome. I know you two will do this and if you don't feel confident… just lean on me and I'll give you all the reassurance you will ever need." With a soft click of the door he left the three girls to think on his words.
The next day Haru went back to his hard training with new vigor and fire burning in his eyes and soul. I'll protect you all! His mind roared as he ran at Tannin with a red aura covering his entire body.
Ddraig was watching the teen charge at the stronger dragon with interest. He had liked the growth in power and ability the pervert had shown these past few days. The dragon could also feel something blocking his heart when he tried to talk to the Gremory girl. [Wonder what it might be.] Ddraig mused to himself. Deciding to find out for himself, the old dragon decided to go into his partners' mind and try to find the reason.
Walking through his fire domain, he found a large door that he had found out was the entrance to Haru's mind. Opening the door with one push of his mighty wing, he walked into a large, which surprised him at first, church. He didn't know why such a pervert who he thought didn't believe in that stuff would have his mindscape a church but didn't question it.
Looking around, his emerald eyes saw a door that he had not seen since he had begun to search his mind a few months ago. The door had a light blue glow to it. [Hm.] Humming to himself, Ddraig made his way to the door and let one claw strike it but was shocked when ice, of all things, appeared on his claw. [What in the world?] The dragon mused to himself as he melted the ice with ease.
Opening his maw, he let out a steady stream of fire that slowly made the aura fade. Smirking to himself, he opened the door and found himself in a mall of all places. His body was astral, making him realize he was looking at Haru's memory.
Emerald eyes then locked onto his redhed partner that appeared to be thirteen at the current memory. The younger Haru was running through the mall with a perverted grin on his face. [Of course] Ddraig sweat-dropped, realizing the boy would have been like this no matter his age. He just hoped that after his training finished, he'd show less of his perversion. [One can hope.] He raised his massive eyebrow when he saw his younger partner run into a girl about two years his senior.
The dragon would admit, she was a pretty little thing, for a human that is. She had long light golden hair with ice-blue eyes. She wore a white blouse and jeans that hugged her wide hips and breasts that Haru's eyes were instantly drawn to.
"Who are you?" The woman's voice had a condescending tone.
Haru was shocked for a second at the tone she had given him. Even if she was gorgeous, the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen, her voice intimidated him. "Uh… Sorry I ran into you." Standing up and brushing himself off, he apologized with a sheepish smile. He didn't see the light blush that formed on her pale skin as she looked at his smiling face.
Ddraig would have watched more but the room suddenly pushed him out. Shocked, the dragon found himself back to where he was in the church. His emerald eyes gazed at the glowing door in shock. [What in the world?] He asked himself, never expecting to be pushed out of a memory. [It must be rather strong to push me out. Question is…why has he not talked about this girl before?] The dragon would have expected the boy to tell anyone about the woman but this was the first time seeing this girl. He decided to talk to Haru about this later. Right now he had to focus on his training.