DxD : Emiya Shirou

For a while things began to look up for Koneko but that didn't last long before disaster struck. Her sister Kuroka was a practitioner of the Art of Senjutsu and had one day had lost control of her power, causing her to go on a rampage which resulted in the death of their master. 

Kuroka was able to quickly escape and a man-hunt was formed in an effort to capture her, however in her haste to escape she had left her sister behind.

This incident has caused the relationship between Devils and Yokai, which has already been strained badly in recent years, to become utterly shredded. 

The death of Alexzander Shax had sparked what was basically a witch hunt in the Underworld for Nekoshous. Within the week almost the entire remaining Nekoshous were either driven out of the Underworld or lynched, resulting in over twenty three death. None of the people responsible for the lynching were ever arrested or charged.

During this time Koneko was immediately captured and imprisoned. She had been kept in captivity for almost two months before she was even trialed.

The more I read, the more my temper built. I could feel what little control I had fraying at the seams as I read at how an innocent ten year old girl was arrested for committing no crime, how they left her to rot in a prison for months and how they were about to legally execute her and only though the quick intervention of Sirzechs was her life even spared.

I had never felt more gratefully to Sirzechs in my life in that moment but whatever gratitude I felt had quickly evaporated when I read the lines and what remaining restrained I still had snapped.

"Sirzechs you complete and utter moron! You gave an emotionally unstable and abused child to a 12 year old girl AS A PET!" I slammed my hands onto the table with so much force it actually fractured it as I leapt out and yelled. 

"I don't care how many hugs and kisses your sister gives her, that will not help heal the wounds, just mask it."

I just glared at the file before me as if it was responsible for this. I thought back to the day on the roof when we first met, to her terrified eyes, how she trembles and shivered from an unexpected touch. 

I thought of the face so empty of emotion, something that should never be worn by a child. How long has she been wearing it? How long has she been hiding her emotions? I remember the small glimpse of her soul, of a girl building walls around herself. Too long, I decided.

No, that girl's wounds were anything but healed.

I actually snarled as I read the next line. Rias Gremory changed her name to Koneko, Koneko. Japanese for kitten. She named a girl kitten? And no one told her that she wasn't supposed to be her pet!

I didn't blame the Gremory girl for this, oh no, she was just as innocent as Koneko in this whole thing. She was nothing more than a child back then. It was painfully obvious to anyone she treated Koneko as best as she knew how. But what the hell was Sirzechs thinking giving the responsibility of another thinking feeling living being, not an animal, to a twelve year old?

Quickly skimming through the rest of the file I realized he didn't even arrange any form of therapy. He just dumped her on Rias Gremory's lap and left Koneko's recovery entirely up to her, since as part of her Peerage it was her responsibility. 

She was twelve! Why you place the responsibility of an abused child in the hands of another child! Am I the only one who sees the insanity in that?

I couldn't take it anymore; I just shoved the entire file off the table and collapsed back into my chair. Leaning my head as far back into the headrest as I could, I shut my eyes and took deep breath as I forced myself to calm down and think.

What were you thinking Sirzechs? I know you're not stupid, far from it. You wouldn't do something like this unless you had very good reason but for the life of me I can't figure out what.

I know that Gremory treated Koneko well, as best as she was able to. Of that I had no doubt, but she was simply not equipped to take care of physically abused and emotionally scarred little girl and I know Sirzechs was aware of that too. So why did he give Koneko to her?

Enough. There was no point thinking about it, the past was the past and there was nothing I could change it. I cast my eyes around the room for something, anything to direct me from my current thoughts.

When my eyes landed on the files of the rest of the Peerage, I decided that researching their pasts would be as good a distraction as anything. I picked up the top folder and began reading them.

By the time I was finished I just stared at the file in disbelief. Quickly I reached out to the other file and read that too, then the other and the other.

"W-what the hell is going on?"

Kiba, Akeno, Gasper and hell even Issei, all of them, every single last one of her Peerage were dead or about to die when she recruited them. All of them except Issei had no home to return to. That's just not possible.

Rias has never actually had to work at convincing any one of them to join her. Half of them were either dead or dying when she found them and the other half had no place to return to and were more or less homeless orphans.

Sona's words came back to me as I looked over the file. I knew she said that but I thought she was exaggerating. Even if you take into account a Devil's luck, Gremory's is nowhere near strong enough to explain this. Nothing less than a Super Devil can come close to explaining this luck.

And it all happened in such a short span of time. Rias ended up recruiting Akeno just a week after she gained her Evil Piece Set. And from then she went on to recruit Koneko, Kiba and Gasper in less than two years. 

How many dead or dying children does she keep running into? She was a Clan Heir, a glorified princess, why did her watchers even allowed her to come close to a place where children die? And why did this only happen after she received her Peerage set?

Each and every one of her Peerage just seemed to fall onto her lap with her barely having to lift a finger. To make matter even more unbelievable, every one of them either has a powerful Sacred Gears or a powerful bloodline.

And every one of them happened to be first-rate Peerage material? Not even one was an ordinary human? No, not possible. The odds of that happening are so small it might as well be zero. There are too many coincidences for this to be just chance. Someone must have arranged this. Someone must have set this all up…

… Sirzechs you Bastard!

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