DxD : Emiya Shirou

"There you go with that worried look on your face again. First with Issei and now Koneko. To think my sister would choose such a worrywart for a Queen." Sona's voice cut through my thoughts. 

"If you keep letting every little thing get to you, my sister's antics will have your hair turning completely white before you're thirty."

...

I quirked a smile as her words conjured up an image of Archer in my mind. At least I no longer had to worry about that anymore. Other that one streak of white, my hair had long stopped losing its colour since my Reincarnation.

I turned around to find Sona had pushed herself back to a seated position, her arms propped up behind her. "She'll be fine. I don't know what you and Kiba having been doing to help her but it's working wonders."

"Kiba?" I asked in surprise, "I thought she only acted like that around me."

Sona shook her head, "No, she acts just as spirited with Kiba as she does with you. Well, maybe not quite as mischievous but she's definitely more open around him as well. Though it's understandable that you didn't notice since she brightens up the moment you appear"

"I see." I nodded, pleased. "That's good, at least she's doing better than I thought." I couldn't help but frown though as a troubling thought occurred to me. "But why doesn't she behave that way with Gremory? If anyone I would have guessed she'd be more comfortable around her."

"No. It's quite the opposite." Sona's voice took on a now familiar tone, one I had mentally dubbed as her lecturing voice. "It would be more surprising if she did act that way in front of Rias. After all, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to call Rias something like a parent to Koneko. And no matter how kind they act, parents will always be an authority figure to their children. Something to respect and obey, never an equal. It's only natural for a child to be on their best behavior in front of them."

"But that doesn't explain why she acts that way around me." I pointed out the flaw in her theory. "In term of authority, I arguably outrank Rias and definitely outrank her."

"That may be so but that isn't how Koneko sees it. To her, Rias has far more authority over her than you do. She said it herself didn't she? To her Rias is her master, while you on the other hand, how did she put it again?" A smirk grew on her face, "Ah yes, her little servant I believe she called you."

I nodded, conceding the point. "So because she doesn't see me as an authority figure, she feels like she can misbehave in front of me without being punished?"

I thought back to all the times she stole my food and broke into my house and suddenly I had no trouble believing Sona's theory. I would never dare pull half the stunts she did if I thought I'd get in trouble for it.

"Something like that." She nodded before her smirk grew even wider. "Though it could simply be her way of showing affection. They do say that kids tend to tease the ones they like the most." But the next instant her smirk disappeared as she took a more solemn look. "Then there is Koneko's fear of abandonment to consider."

"Abandonment? She thinks that Gremory would abandon her? Impossible." That was completely ridiculous even to me. There has never once been a case where a Gremory had allowed members of their Peerage leave, willingly or otherwise. Their Greed will never allow it. The chance of that happening to Koneko is so close to zero it's not even worth considering.

"I agree, but just because we know that doesn't mean Koneko does." Sona sighed while adjusting her frames. "Remember Shirou, that Koneko was already abandoned by her family once before. You don't go through something like that and expect to emerge unscathed.

"I've read that foster or adopted children tend to behave in one of two extremes when their first taken in by a new family. They either misbehave whenever they can or religiously follow every rule down to the letter. Both reactions are caused by their fear of abandonment.

"The first group are so certain that they're going to be thrown away that they'd cause trouble to hasten the process, believing that it's better to be abandoned now rather than later, after they had gotten attached to the new family. It's supposed to hurt them less that way.

"Then there is the second group, who are so terrified of being abandoned again that they would do anything for that not to happen. They follow all the rules, obey every command given to them eagerly, just hoping and praying that they pleased their new family enough that they would want to keep them instead of throwing them away."

A silent and obedient Shirone, so eager to please, leaping to fulfill even at the smallest sign of a request, all the while utterly terrified that she'd be thrown away, returned back to that hellish prison where they found her.

Rage flooded my veins, forcing me to grit my teeth so hard they I could practically feel them bleed as I bit back my anger. Why was it that I could so easily picture it happening?

"Shirou, calm down." Even through my rage I could hear the exasperation in her voice. "Didn't I just tell you she'll be fine? That was a long time ago, things are not like that anymore. Look, she's not afraid of misbehaving in front of you is she?" Sona pointed out.

That actually gave me pause. "No." I answered, hesitantly shaking my head after thinking it through. "No, she's not."

Sona smiled up at me. "And that's why she'll be fine. If she's willing to act that way around you that means she feels safe. That no matter how badly she misbehaves or how much trouble she cause you that you'll never abandon her."

"Damn straight I won't." As if I'll ever let that happen.

"Then that's all you'll ever need to do to help her. She's healing Shirou, anyone that looks at her can see that. Just give her time. Wounds like that needs time to properly heal, try to rush it and you'll just end up making things worse. So let her heal, just be nearby to help her when she need it, and I'm sure Koneko will end up just fine."

Reluctantly, I nodded in agreement. I knew she was right of course, still, sitting back and just doing nothing but wait was never my strong point. Even if I knew that was the best thing I could do for her right now.

"Speaking of Koneko." Sona carried on. "I noticed you've been calling her Shirone. Why is that?"

I shrugged in reply, "She asked me to." Which was the truth.

After our talk on the rooftop I thought she'd have wanted everyone to start calling her Shirone. That, however, wasn't the case. Turns out she just wanted me to call her that. I had discovered, to my surprise, that she actually liked being called Koneko. It's just that she wanted to be called by her old name as well.

To her, both of those names were important. They were proof that she was loved. One gifted to her the day she was born, the other given the day she begun a new life. She treasures the both of them and refuses to give either away.

"Now then," I looked back down at Sona, "if you're done stalling, it's time for us to get going."

She tried glaring up at me over her glasses, but it had no more effect on me than it did the other times she had tried. "Did I mention how much I hate jocks?"

"Repeatedly." I cheerfully smiled back.

Bending down over her, I reached out and scooped Sona up around the waist. As I did so, I made sure to pick up her staff from where she had discarded it on the ground beside her.

Even without my Devil enhanced strength to aid me, I would have had no trouble carrying Sona. She barely weighed a hundred pounds, if that. Now this means that there are several ways I could have gone about carrying her.

I could carry her on my back like a child, slung her over both of my shoulders in a fireman's carry or even scooped her up in a bridal carry. As hilarious as the last one would have been, I choose an entire different method instead.

Scooping Sona up by her waist I carried her under my arm, tucking her to my side and under my shoulder. It reminds of how I once saw a parent carrying a misbehaving child, and with the height difference between us we probably ended up looking like that from afar.

"I would like to reiterate." Sona's face remained completely blank as I carried her down the path Shirone took towards school. "I don't hate jocks, I simply loath you so much that my hatred spills over to them by association."

"Sure you do." I grinned back as I made my way around a tree.

She twisted herself around in my grip so that she could glare up at me from where she hung off my side. "You're totally enjoying this aren't you?"

"Yup."

"Still sore about the whole chess thing?"

"Chess?" I repeated, trying to sound oblivious. "Now why would I be sore about that? I only lost to you 127 times in row? Not that I was keeping count anything. Why would I ever need to keep count when I have that giant sign in the Council Room to keep track of it for me?"

"I'll take that as yes then." She grumbled out as I ducked under a low hanging branch.

"Come on Sona. Don't be like that. Remember, you were the one who came to me asking for help."

"The biggest mistake of my life."

"If you feel that strongly about it, I could always ask Serafall to train you instead." The instant the words left my mouth, I felt something clamp around my waist. I looked to find Sona staring up at me in terror with her arms wrapped tightly around me.

"Please, promise you'll never leave me Sensei." Her violet eyes were wide with dread as she desperately pleaded.

I raised a brow at their melodramatics. "Oh come on, she can't be that bad."

"Did she ever try to train you before?"

"Yes," I nodded as I walked around a tree, being careful to make sure Sona didn't bump into anything, "she taught me how to fly."

"And how did that go?"

I barely held myself back from flinching from the memory of that day. When Serafall told me we were going to a place to practice flying I expected for her to take me to a clear empty field or even over a lake, or if she was going to take a more sink or swim approach, to the rooftops at worse.

What happened instead was that I found myself standing on the edge of a cliff with my hands and feet bound tight together. Serafall, called this the 'Toad-Sage' training method. She then proceeded to boot me off the cliff.

The only thing I could remember afterwards was screaming my lungs off as the ground kept steadily getting closer and closer. Then the next thing I know I find myself buried six feet deep in a small crater. Fun-fact, turns out you don't actually end up making a man shaped hole when you crash into the ground.

Since then I made sure to avoid training with Serafall whenever I could. Her explanation, 'but it worked in the Manga' was not enough to convince me to try again.

"And how did that end up?" Sona asked.

"Brilliant," I lied through my teeth as I pushed another branch out of our way, "best teacher I ever had."

"She tossed you off the cliff didn't she?"

"Yes, yes she did." I replied, "There is a reason why I can't fly worth a damn. I take it she's done something like this before?"

"She did the same thing to Tsubasa and Tsubaki. It took me a while to figure out why, but I believe she wanted to teach them how strong a Queen's and Rook's defense can be."

I…never really thought of like that. Putting it that way, it did make a bit more sense. When I dragged myself out of the crater, only to find I hadn't so much as broken a single bone, I was more than a little stunned to say the least.

"Ok, I could see that. But why didn't she just say so?"

"Tell me, by any chance did my sister happen to have a camera on her?"

"Yes...she did." Now that I think about it, I do remember seeing a few flashes of light on my way down. At the time I thought it was the light at the end of the tunnel I keep hearing about so I ignored it.

"That's why. Don't be surprised if you find a few embarrassing pictures of yourself in the family photo album. Why do you think I refuse to even consider letting her train me or my Peerage? Maou knows that I have too many photo of my own in there. 

I'd even prefer training with that accursed staff than train with her." She then proceeded to glare at said staff. "How are you even carrying that thing so easily?"

"This?" I twirled the staff in my right hand a couple of times, "It's not that hard Sona, it's actually pretty light."

She shot me a deadpanned look, "Shirou, with the amount of magic I poured into it, that thing must weigh at least 200 pounds."

"And for any athletic Devil, that's light." I brought the staff around and whacked her gently on the head. "Not that you would know anything about being athletic, now would you?"

Sona rubbed the top of her head while glaring at me. "This, this right here is why I hate jocks. Muscle brained idiots, the lot of you."

I laughed at her antics as I continued carrying her back to school.

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