High School DxD: Scattered Cherry Blossoms

Underworld, Gremory Territory, Gremory Estate.

A week has passed since school started at Kuoh Academy. Which means almost four months have passed since the group of young devils set up shop in the Human World. Tonight, the family members of those young devils have decided to get together to have a good time. Although, they are split by gender. With Venelana, Rhea, Grayfia, and Serafall having a girls' night. At the same time, Zeoticus, Dante, Sirzechs, and Cassiel would be playing a few rounds of cards to pass the evening.

*Sigh* I miss So-Tan." Serafall said in a depressed tone.

"I miss her two Sera." Rhea said while patting Serafall on her shoulder.

"It's hard to believe almost four months have already passed since they left. " Grayfia chimed into the conversation.

"And they haven't come to visit once." Venelana said as she took a sip of the tea Grayfia had served when the get together began.

Everyone's mood dropped just a little bit more when remembering that what Venelana said was the truth.

"Well, that's not one hundred percent true." Grayfia said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Serafall asked.

"James and Leona have made several trips back to the Underworld in the last few months." Grayfia answered Serafall's doubts.

"How is that possible?" Rhea asked in surprise. "Haven't James and his peerage been the ones monitoring those who enter and exit Kuoh?"

"According to Leona, James has put together quite the team." Grayfia said as she recalled Leona's description of how James' peerage watched over the entire perimeter of Kuoh. "Dante, the son of the great traitor Sparda, watches over the south side, Mizore's ice transmits the info in the north back to her. Moka covers the east, or maybe the west? Anyway, with the bats she communicates with, she covers one side, and Cu Chulainn and his newest addition, a devil hunter girl they refer to as Lady, watch the side Moka doesn't."

"*Sigh* That's impressive." Venelana said, then she realized. "Grayfia, you never mentioned what James does."

"Oh, usually he stays near Sona and Rias." Grayfia said and then continued. "But if anyone from his peerage reports an intruder, James rushes there to handle any possible issue. Apparently, just before the school year started, James broke into the ultimate-rank."

"Is that verified?" Venelana asked in shock.

"Unfortunately, it's not." Grayfia said while shaking her head. "Although I heard this from Leona, she says she's not even sure herself. She says his aura feels like he's made the jump, but when she asks James, he just smiles and stays quiet."

"He's turned into quite the rascal." Rhea said with a chuckle. "When he was little, he didn't keep secrets at all."

Hearing that, Venelana and Grayfia smiled. Noticing this, Serafall spoke.

"It feels like there's something I don't know." Said Serafall as she looked over Venelana, Rhea, and Grayfia with narrowed eyes. "You're keeping secrets from me!"

With Serafall's exclamation, the three were brought back to the present. In response, Rhea smiled mischievously.

"Yup, we sure are." Rhea said in a mysterious tone. "James asked us to keep it secret almost ten years ago."

"Ten years ago!" Serafall shouted in surprise. "That's so not fair!" James is so, not cute. I can't believe he didn't tell his Sera-Tan."

"Not cute you say?" Rhea asked, still in that mysterious tone. "According to the gossip I've heard from Tsubaki, Sona wouldn't agree with you about that."

Hearing that, Venelana and Grayfia's eyes lit up. Serafall on the other hand was sitting in shock with her mouth wide open. She eventually snapped back to her senses and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well from what Tsubaki has told me, James has taken Sona, Mizore, Moka, and Akeno on dates since they arrived in the Human World."

"Wait!" Venelana and Serafall shouted at the same time.

"Why wasn't Rias' name on that list?"

"So-Tan already had her first date?"

Venelana and Serafall asked their questions simultaneously. Rhea and Grayfia just looked at them blankly. Amazingly, they were both at a total loss for words. Unable to decide which question to answer first. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Serafall didn't leave the awkward silence in place for long.

"This is unacceptable!" Serafall shouted indignantly. "If he can't defeat Sirzechs-Chan, even James will not be good enough for So-Tan."

The three then shifted blank stares in Serafall's direction as she monologued to herself about what would qualify someone to be with Sona. If Sona could hear this, she would run away with a flush down to her armpits.

"Well, let's leave the crazy sis-con to her own thoughts." Rhea said, totally dismissing Serafall's nonsense as if she did not know her in the slightest. "The real question is, Lana, why are you surprised that James hasn't taken Rias out on a date?"

"Huh?" Venelana was confused why Rhea would ask her that, but she answered anyway. "I know Rias has done James wrong in the past, but even now, how is it that he has not forgiven her yet?"

Rhea and Grayfia regained their blank stares after hearing Venelana's question. Eventually Grayfia broke the silence.

"Mother-in-law, you do remember that Rias is currently engaged, right?" Grayfia asked with a somewhat lost expression.

Hearing Grayfia's question, Venelana froze. Seeing this reaction, Rhea narrowed her eyes.

"You really did forget, didn't you?" Rhea asked sternly.

"Tee-hee." Venelana giggled in the cutest manner she could with the most innocent smile she could produce.

That, of course, left Rhea and Grayfia dumbfounded. It even stopped Serafall from monologuing. The confused expression on her face made it clear that she did not even recognize who her Auntie Venelana was anymore.

When Rhea finally came back to her senses, she used the energy control exercise to grab a hold of the lukewarm tea in her cup, then threw it at Venelana, splattering it all over her face and clothes. With that, Venelana's smile faded. Looking at Rhea, she opened her mouth with an ominous tone.

"You've done it now." Venelana said, then pulled the tea from both Serafall and Grayfia's cups, then threw it all at Rhea.

Expecting Venelana's retaliation, Rhea dodged swiftly. Unfortunately, during Serafall's rampage and monologue, she had moved around the room and ended up directly behind Rhea. Not ready to become part of the conflict, Serafall was late to react, resulting in her being splattered with the two balls of tea Venelana had just thrown.

The room froze. No one could see Serafall's expression. With the combination of her short stature, lowered head, and her bangs falling in front of her face, it was anyone's guess if she was angry or having fun. Suddenly, Serafall's voice was heard from the silence.

"So, you wanna play, huh?" Serafall said in a low tone.

Suddenly, A large amount of water was produced in the air above the tea table. Then, a basin appeared in each corner of the room and on top of the tea table, for a total of five. Finally, the water separated into five portions that would perfectly fill up all five basins. And before the other three could react, Serafall ran to the nearest basin and grabbed a couple handfuls of water and threw them at Venelana and Rhea. Eventually, the entire girls' night devolved into a water fight. The four women played and laughed like children for hours. Also, they were thankful for the many devil magics that would make cleaning up the mess more convenient.

With the room restored to its state before the water fight started, the four women once again sat around the tea table. After throwing water at each other for over an hour, they were all exhausted and slumped in their chairs. All except Serafall, that is. She was jumping around excitedly, exclaiming how much fun that was.

"Rhea, your eldest daughter is like a perpetual motion machine." Venelana said between pants.

"Haha." Rhea laughed hollowly. "She wasn't like this when she was younger."

Thinking back to a time before the Devil Civil War, Venelana recalled her impression of a young Serafall.

"Now that I think about it, she was a lot like the current Sona, wasn't she?" Venelana asked, then answered her own question. "She was very serious, and very rarely smiled, if I remember correctly."

"That's right." Rhea said, affirming Venelana's recollections. "It makes me wonder; have we been putting too much pressure on our daughters?"

Venelana and Grayfia fell silent. Serafall on the other hand was off in her own world.

"I mean, look at how Serafall changed once she no longer had to live up to our expectations..."

Before Rhea could finish, Serafall hugged her from behind.

"You don't need to worry, Mom." Serafall said in her forever upbeat tone. "If I didn't want to be the next family head, none of you were strong enough to stop me from running away."

Rhea smiled wryly at her daughter's remark. Meanwhile, Venelana and Grayfia were amazed that Serafall could keep up with their conversation while carrying on a conversation of her own with herself.

"And if Sona had ever said that she didn't wanna be the next family head, no one is strong enough to make her, not with me here, anyway." Serafall said with a smile while tightening her hug. "So, you don't need to worry, Mom. Both Sona and I have always wanted to make you and Dad proud."

Hearing her daughter's comforting words, Rhea could feel the tears starting to blur her vision. Before she could start to cry, though, Venelana spoke.

"So, how did we even get to the point that we were having a water fight?" Venelana asked with confusion marring her expression.

Rhea and Grayfia immediately deadpanned.

"Mother-in-law, are you serious? Or are you just playing dumb?" grayfia asked with a solemn expression.

"Huh? What do you mean, Grayfia?" Venelana asked, the confusion in her expression increasing.

"*Sigh* That water fight started because you asked if James had not forgiven Rias, since he has yet to ask her out on a date when he has gone on dates with the other girls that clearly like him." Rhea explained.

"So, why would that start the water fight?" Venelana asked, her confusion growing even further.

"Lana, you do remember that Rias is engaged to the third son of the House of Phenex, right? Rhea asked exasperatedly. Before Venelana could respond, she continued. "James also knew that. So, as to not put Rias in an awkward position socially and politically, he's kept any acts of intimacy to a minimum. That boy, really is something."

Now calm enough to understand the whole situation, Venelana smiled and spoke.

"That boy really is more than she deserves."

After venelana's sentence, the room fell into a comfortable silence. Until venelana broke it.

"Wait." Venelana said with a serious expression. "How did we all lose control to the point we started a water fight in the house?"

In response to Venelana's question, Rhea and Grayfia froze. They had not thought about it before Venelana asked but now that they had stopped and thought about it seriously, they were certainly acting out of character. Eventually their eyes fell on the tea. Then, before they could jump to any conclusions, Serafall spoke.

"Oh, I spiked the tea with the strongest stuff in my collection." Serafall said with a big smile. "What kind of girls' night doesn't have any alcohol?"

Venelana, Rhea, and Grayfia deadpanned.

"Get her." Venelana ordered, pointing a finger at Serafall.

Before Serafall could process what was happening, Rhea and Grayfia had appeared on either side of her and held her tightly. Shortly after, Serafall was forced onto the ground and...

"Hey, what are you... Haha."

"Please, I beg... Ahahaha... Stop!"

"Ahahaha hahaha ha... Please, I can't breathe... Hahahahaha!"

As punishment, Venelana, Rhea, and Grayfia tickled Serafall relentlessly until she was close to peeing herself.

Meanwhile, in another room, the men were playing poker.

"Those women, they sure are noisy tonight." Zeoticus said while contemplating the decision to call or fold.

Waving his hand dismissively, Dante responded to Zeoticus' off-handed remark. "Don't worry about them, barging in on a gathering of women won't end well for you."

Cassiel nodded vigorously in agreement.

Meanwhile, Sirzechs was seated off in the corner, dead drunk muttering to himself.

"Where are you Ria-Tan? Big Brother misses you."

"Damn sis-con." the three other men in the room said simultaneously. Then Dante and Cassiel looked at Zeoticus skeptically.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not a sis-con." Zeoticus said while puffing his chest in pride. "I'm a doting father."