Rise of the Strongest Exorcist (DxD parody)

"Is that you, Saori?"

Leo barely breathed the question. It came out so low that normal people wouldn't have been able to hear it. But for all in the room who were supernatural beings, it was extremely clear.

Leo squinted, carefully scrutinizing the back-haired woman, before shaking his head. "No. You aren't Saori Suzaku, though you just look like her." A perplexed frown settled on his face. 

Even if it had been eight years since he saw her law, it was embarrassing to have confused Saori with someone else. Even so, this woman and the girl he'd befriended in Japan were eerily similar. Leo only knew one of Saori's relative that looked identical to her—nearly a twin. 

This had to be Saori's cousin, someone he knew that Saori wished to help more than anyone else. Leo hesitated, undecided about what to do. Nodding to himself, he made up his mind and approached the black-haired girl.

"Sorry for staring. I didn't mean to be rude… but are you Shuri Suzaku?"

A small frown flickered across Shuri's face. Before he was sure it had been there, the Japanese girl gave him a reluctant expression, not willing to disclose her identity. That he'd brought her name up out of the blue meant that he had to know her cousin. And from the hope she'd heard in his softly murmured question, he had been close to Saori.

Her cousin was the only person in the clan that had not hated and discriminated against her. For that, if nothing else, she owed this man an honest answer.

"I am Shuri… though I am surprised you know my name."

If there had been any doubt before, she was now certain this man was the son of Lane Karteros.

"Saori told me about you… she loved talking about you. She always said she wanted the two of us to meet." Leo stopped and rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. "Sadly, something happened to me… and I couldn't participate in any further gatherings."

Leo explained a bit more about his connection to Saori. 

From his sincere words, Shuri understood that he didn't know why she was so hated or how she'd nearly been killed by her uncle after wandering Tokyo as a street urchin for a year.

If Rayne had not saved her by taking her under her wing, her uncle would have killed her without any remorse. The family would have rejoiced, rather than grieve for her.

"It was a pleasure to finally meet the cousin I've heard so much about. I would love to see you again and ask about Saori, but I have to go." Leo gave Shuri a polite bow with a genial smile before walking away.

It had been a pleasant surprise to meet Saori's cousin in Spartanburg, of all places. The way the redhead, who was obviously Shuri mistress, had barged in wanting to barter with Sharon for him like he could be bought and sold, had completely turned him off. He couldn't care less about what she might want with him.

But, just as he was about to leave the room…

"If you really want to see me again… would you like to visit my club?" Shuri asked.

Leo glanced at the other women. Shuri looked hopeful but calm. Miyu was scowling at the other Japanese girl. Sharon was scowling at the redhead. For some reason, the redhead seemed to hold her breath.

Part of him wanted politely to decline—knowing that this would disappoint the redhead even more than it would Shuri. He also didn't want to hurt Miyu, and he had a sneaky suspicion she would take this as him picking Saori's cousin over her. But he couldn't bring himself to be rude to Shuri. He wanted to talk to her about what Saori was up to these days.

Before answering Shuri, Leo turned back to Miyu. "I'm sorry that I didn't have a chance to get to know you a bit better. Before I accept Shuri's offer to visit her club, I want you to know that I would like to see you again." 

He nodded to Sharon. "And you'll have to give me a chance to give you a better showing in another game of chess. I'll try to knock the rust off before challenging you for a rematch."

The blonde grinned. "I'll hold you to that challenge. Don't think I'll go as easy on you next time, now that I know how you play."

Miyu beamed at him. "Thank you, Leo-san. I would very much like to get to know you better." She frowned at the other two women who had barged in on them. "Maybe next time we meet there won't be any rude interruptions."

The redhead blushed so hard that her cheeks nearly matched the flame red of her hair. Shuri, on the other hand, didn't let Miyu's comment bother her. 

"Would you allow me to show you our clubroom at school?" she repeated her previous offer.

"I'll accept your kind offer," he told Shuri. "But I won't be able to do so today. I have other things I need to do." He waved to all four ladies. "I'm sure I'll see you around. We can work out a convenient time when next I see you at school." With that, Leo spun on his heel and walked out.

The door hadn't closed yet as he walked from the coffee shop, so Sharon's irritated voice reached Leo.

"Really, Rayne? What in the warmest hells were you thinking?!"

***

"Who did she think she is?!" Leo fumed as he opened the front door and walked into the hallway. Without saying more than 'Hello' to him, the redhead had gotten under his skin. He had some idea about who she might be, but wasn't certain. He'd have to ask Lucy.

Yeah. His strange new maid would know who Shuri's mistress was.

The young man paused a few steps inside the door. The house was quiet—too quiet. If Lucy wasn't going to greet him with that eerily calm voice of hers, that could only mean…

Leo spun around and grabbed an umbrella from the stand next to the door and whipped around just in time to deflect the strike that flashed from the shadows at his chest. That had been close. 

He'd nearly forgotten the challenge his maid had issued as he was leaving the house that morning. She must have been irritated at his lack of reaction at her cooking breakfast in only an apron. Leo only knew she was irritated because of the challenge—he couldn't tell from her expression or the tone of her voice when she'd said, "Be careful, Master Leo. When you least expect it, I will surprise you… and I will find an interesting way to keep score."

Lucy stepped out of the shadows with a long-handled duster pointed at his face. She wore a maid's outfit that left little to the imagination. Her white, sleeveless blouse was stretched across her impressive bust and she wore a white ruffled petticoat underneath a scandalously short black skirt. The maid's cap and lace apron on top the skirt ensured the outfit screamed lewd maid.

Leo pulled his left foot back perpendicular to his right and slightly bent his knees. Now that his opponent had lost the element of surprise, he felt his chances were better than good. The umbrella felt off balance in his hand, but he could compensate for that. He spun his wrist around to strike top left quarter to lower right before immediately reversing direction and slashing horizontally. 

Lucy parried the first move, but had to jump into a graceful one-handed backspring to avoid the slash. Landing on her feet, her left hand dipped into the lacy apron at her waist and flicked several small somethings at Leo.

He noted last week's frosted sugar cookies in the shape of trees that he hadn't eaten as they spun at him. Mind racing, Leo knew he might avoid one or even two of the stale baked goods, but she'd tossed three of them at him. In a stroke of genius, Leo took his umbrella in both hands and hit the button to open it. 

All three cookies bounced off the taut cloth of the open umbrella. Using it like a shield Leo batted aside another wave of stale pastries. 

His maid insisted on baking for him almost every day. To date, Leo had only eaten one cookie—both to be polite, and to satisfy his curiosity about how good his caretaker could bake. Lucy's cookie wasn't terrible, but it didn't hold a candle to his mom's baking. Besides, he'd started training again, so couldn't afford to indulge.

When was she going to learn that Leo took his training seriously and that he would deny his sweet tooth until he felt he was at least back in reasonable fighting shape? 

Closing the umbrella, Leo dove into a forward roll. He opened it up again as he regained his feet underneath the maid. She'd jumped back onto the first flight of stairs, and was quicker than he'd thought she'd be.

The feather duster came crashing down onto his half-opened umbrella. 

'Lucy must really want to win,' Leo thought. 'I wonder how she will keep score?'

The duster bounced upwards as the opening umbrella redirected the force of Lucy's chop. Though his defense had worked as planned, the succubus hadn't held back, and Leo's umbrella gave an ominous crack as the two of the rods that extended the fabric snapped. Leo ignored this and followed through with a lunge that poked the tip of the half-open umbrella into Lucy's stomach.

The succubus immediately held up a hand. "Stop!" she called out loudly.

Leo paused, as requested. He'd already recovered his stance and was prepared to launch another attack.

Lucy calmly set her feather duster to one side and removed her blouse. 

'Oh… that's how we're keeping score…' Leo couldn't help the snicker that escaped. 'I suppose if you lose a hand in strip-poker, you lose an article of clothing. This is going to be like that, huh?'

Lucy stood several steps above Leo in a very lacy bra and her ruffled skirt. She calmly picked up her feather duster before murmuring, "Go!" 

With that, she leaped high in the air as she whipped her feather duster around in another massive chop. Lucy's ruffled skirt flared up around her hips, revealing she wore a garter belt attached to her silk stocking… and no underwear. 

Leo blinked. Of course the maid went commando…

He braced the umbrella in both hands between them to block the mighty blow. The core of the feather part of the duster landed on the braced umbrella. And Leo did stop her strike, though both the umbrella and duster creaked ominously. What he hadn't counted on, though, was that Lucy had been cleaning with the duster before he'd come home.

A cloud of dust burst from the end of the duster and Leo gagged. He managed to close his eyes, but took a nose full of dust. 

ACHOOOOO!

Next thing Leo knew, he was on his back and Lucy held a stale sugar cookie to his throat like a dagger. 

"Fufufu… I win!" 

Leo sighed. "Fine. If we lose an article of clothing for scoring a point, what is the penalty for losing a match?"

Lucy's wide, devilish smile was the most emotion he'd ever seen on the maid's face. "Master must eat his meal in the nude, of course." 

And with that, Lucy jumped to her feet and stood over Leo, flashing him.

With another "Fufufu!" the maid turned and walked into the kitchen. "Dinner is almost ready, Master."

Groaning, Leo got to his feet and started unbuttoning his shirt. This was going to be… hard.

In more ways than one.